Clinical Services and Social Impact

Outpatients

Ophthalmic Emergency Clinic
Every day a medical officer, two registrars and a consultant attend to eye emergencies referred by colleagues from departments within Tygerberg Academic Hospital as well as from primary and secondary health centres outside of our tertiary health institution.

General Ophthalmology Clinics
Annually about 20000 patients are managed in general ophthalmology clinics that are mainly rendered by registrars.

Specialist Ophthalmology Clinics
Each of the following subspecialties is directed by a qualified fulltime consultant who is a subspecialist in their particular field.
Subspecialist services include:

  • Medical retina
  • Surgical retina
  • Orbital, lacrimal and oculoplastic surgery
  • Anterior segment
  • Paediatric ophthalmology and strabismus


Inpatients

Annually approximately 3 000 patients are admitted to our ward and more than 3 000 procedures performed in our operating rooms.
 

The community we serve

We serve a highly diverse group of patients but the majority of our patients come from a socio-economically disadvantaged background. The people are generally unemployed and heavily reliant on governmental social support measures. Social violence, crime, poor health surveillance and transport difficulties bring about unique pathologies and challenges to patient management and follow up care. We therefore strive to make a positive contribution to our patient's wellbeing by providing high standard quality care.
 

Division of Ophthalmology 

Our unit is privileged to be situated in arguably the most beautiful part of South Africa. Tygerberg Academic Hospital shares the responsibility of rendering an ophthalmic service to the inhabitants of the Western Cape Province with our colleagues at Grootte Schuur Hospital. Patients seen at Tygerberg Academic Hospital are mainly resident in the cities of Tygerberg and Helderberg of the Cape Town Metropolis. Since the completion of the Khayelitsha District Hospital, patients of this area has also fallen under our umbrella of care. The rural part of the Western Cape includes some of the most scenic places in South Africa. We service patients as far as Hermanus, Swellendam, Robertson, Ceres, Laingsburg, Sutherland and Niewoudtville. Outreach clinics and surgical projects extend as far as Upington in the Northern Cape and Windhoek in Namibia.