Karl Bremer Hospital is a hospital, situated in

Bellville, Western Cape Bellville is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is situated adjacent to the Koelberg Mountains and also the University of Western Cape where it has its own campus. Established It was founded as "12 Mile Post" (Afrikaa ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. It was opened in 1956 with one ward. It was originally an academic hospital for medical students of

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

and was utilised for this purpose until 1976, after which it changed to a hospital catering for private patients.

Namesake

The hospital is named after Karl Bremer (1885–1953). Bremer was a Medical Doctor, a Minister of Health in

DF Malan Daniël François Malan (; 22 May 1874 – 7 February 1959) was a South African politician who served as the fourth prime minister of South Africa from 1948 to 1954. The National Party implemented the system of apartheid, which enforce ...

’s Cabinet and Vice-chancellor of the

Changes and events through the years

In 1957 the Cape Provincial Administrator, PJ Oliver announced that “Non-European” nurses may receive practical training in the hospital. South Africa was in 1956 a country with race segregation. By 1958 a pathology section was create under Prof HW Weber. The Neurosurgery specialist unit was developed under AP Rose-Innes in 1972. The academic classification was taken away in 1976 and the hospital catered for private patients. An oncology centre was created under Leon Gouws. in 1990, however in 2011 it moved to the suburb Panorama. Karl Bremer hospital status changed to a secondary hospital for government patients in 1996. The hospital has its own Pharmacy. In 2007 the

University of the Western Cape The University of the Western Cape (UWC) is a public research university in Bellville, near Cape Town, South Africa. The university was established in 1959 by the South African government as a university for Coloured people only. Other un ...

started to use the hospital as part of their undergraduate service learning in Pharmacy. This applied to their pharmacy students. The status of the hospital changed in 2009 to become a district hospital status. An emergency section was built in 2013. This emergency section won them the Socio-Economic Pilot award. On 3 December 1967, while

Christiaan Barnard Christiaan Neethling Barnard (8 November 1922 – 2 September 2001) was a South African cardiac surgeon who performed the world's first human-to-human heart transplant operation. On 3 December 1967, Barnard transplanted the heart of accident-v ...

was performing the world’s first heart transplant in

Groote Schuur Hospital Groote Schuur Hospital is a large, government-funded, teaching hospital situated on the slopes of Devil's Peak in the city of Cape Town, South Africa. It was founded in 1938 and is famous for being the institution where the first human-to-huma ...

, the heart donor,

Denise Darvall __NOTOC__ Denise Darvall (27 February 19423 December 1967) was the donor in the world's first successful human heart transplant, performed at Groote Schuur Hospital, South Africa, by a team of surgeons led by Christiaan Barnard. Accident and ...

also donated her kidneys and they were transplanted in Karl Bremer Hospital. The South African Government used Karl Bremer hospital as a medical treatment centre for captured political activists (which were opposed to the Ruling party). This was done in a secret way, so that these activists could not be identified. One example is

Robert Sobukwe Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe (5 December 1924 – 27 February 1978) was a prominent South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and founding member of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), serving as the first president of the organization. Sobukwe w ...

who had an operation on his prostate on 1 February 1967 in the hospital.

Accreditation

The hospital fulfils its States obligation to provide HIV, AIDS and TB-related treatment. HIV counselling is done. The hospital is an accredited antiretroviral (ARV) treatment institution.

References

Other

{{Cape Town, services Hospitals in Cape Town