Annual Report 2008/ 09 - Hope Cape Town

Delft Paediatric ARV clinic
(Dr. Sadeeka Williams)
HOPE Cape Town Association & Trust Annual Report 2008/ 09
The Delft Paediatric ARV clinic is a dedicated government service which runs every Friday at Delft
Community Health Centre. 91 children are routinely followed up at the clinic with twenty­four
children falling into the adolescent group (older than the age of 10) (as at 1 September 2009).
Dr. Gadija Essack, a senior medical officer at Tygerberg Hospital, has been seeing patients at the
clinic on her own since starting in 2006. Due to a shortage of space at the clinic, she often works
in a tiny room without a bed despite being expected to take bloods from the babies for routine
clinical management. Up to twenty­five children may be seen in the clinic on any given day. On­
site counselors and patient advocates provide the social component of the service.
Since 11 September 2009, HOPE Cape Town medical officer, Dr. Sadeeka Williams and HOPE
community health worker, Angela Abrahams, as well Tygerberg Hospital Nursing Sister, Sr.
Beulah Floris have joined Dr. Essack at Delft Paediatric ARV clinic. They hope to add to and
support the clinical efforts of Dr. Essack. They have also tried to make the clinic more child­
friendly by decorating the rooms with soft toys and games and colouring books for the children
to play with.
The Delft Paediatric ARV clinic continues to see new patients every week as the community
continues to rapidly expand. There are also plans for a further 67 children from Delft who are
currently receiving treatment at Tygerberg Hospital (in Parow) to be transferred to the clinic as
this would improve accessibility for the families. It currently costs between R40 and R50 for a
return trip by minibus taxi between Delft central and Tygerberg Hospital.
It is hoped that the clinic will soon move to bigger rooms within the facility while waiting for a
much bigger ARV clinic to be built.
Patients in the waiting room
HOPE Cape Town in the communities 27