Tygerberg Hospital is a tertiary hospital located in Parow. The hospital was officially opened in 1976 and is the largest hospital in the Western Cape and the second largest hospital in South Africa, with the capacity for 1899 beds. It acts as a teaching hospital in conjunction with the Stellenbosch University's Health Science Faculty. To become a patient at Tygerberg, a person must be referred by a primary or secondary health care facility. Over 3.6 million people receive health care from Tygerberg, either directly or via its secondary hospitals, such as Paarl and Worcester Hospital. During the normal working day there are about 10,000 people on hospital grounds.
Services
A full range of general specialist and sub specialist services include:
Carel du Toit Centre for the Hearing Impaired
Centre for Mental Health
Clinical Nutrition and Vitaminology Service
Clinical Retinal Laboratory
Cochlear Implant Unit
Complex Craniofacial Surgery Unit
Department of Endocrinology & Metabolism
Complex Radiation and Oncological Therapy
Day Surgery Unit
In-vitro Fertilisation
Kidney Transplant Unit
Laboratory for Human Genetics
Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Neuropsychiatry Unit
Open Heart Surgery Unit
Perinatal Mortality Unit
Poison Information Centre
Postnatal Stress Disorder Unit
Specialised Pulmonary Function Laboratory
Tuberculosis Clinical Work Unit
TygerBear Unit – Social Work Unit
MRI with FMRI facility and additional a 3rd MRI machine
Oncology
Only Adult Burns Unit in the Western Cape
Hyperbaric Oxygen facility
26 bed Private Ward
These services provide for advanced health care to all patients, as well as training of large numbers of doctors (under- and post-graduate) and all other types of clinical staff.
Coat of arms
The hospital registered a coat of arms at the Bureau of Heraldry in 1974 : Gules, on a mount Vert, a leopard statant erect Or, armed and langued Azure, supporting with the forepaws a Staff of Aesculapius erect Or; on a chief Argent, an antique lamp Azure enflamed Gules. The arms were designed by Sheila Fort.