Trauma care in South Africa: From humble beginnings to an afrocentric outreach

Abstract

Trauma can be the result when humans interact with each other or the environment. In South Africa, trauma care has been associated inextricably with the development of surgery and nursing, as well as the development of the current pre-hospital care system (Brysiewicz and Bruce, 2008). Throughout both World Wars, as well as during the struggle for democracy, and particularly in a more formal manner from the early 1980s, trauma care has developed in South Africa, with the country leading the way in many areas (Clarke et al., 2005). South Africa actually preceded the USA by some years in the establishment of a trauma centre. In South Africa, the first trauma centre, called the Accident Service, was established in 1962 at the Johannesburg Hospital by Wilkinson, after his visit to Birmingham in 1960, and was supported by the Medical School of the University of Witwatersrand. Fol-