Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu arrived in style on a bicycle taxi at Tygerberg Children's Hospital (TBCH) today to lead an Interfaith service. He and his wife, Leah, are the patrons of the Tygerberg Children's Hospital. For the past seven years, he led thanksgiving services at the hospital to honour the work being done, especially at the Children's Hospital.

The Children's Hospital was opened in March 2000, after a start had been made to consolidate all services for children in the G- Block.

With the renown that the Tygerberg Children's Hospital had acquired over the years for its comprehensive maternal care services, kangaroo care and the handling of premature babies, including babies with low birth weight, UNICEF accredited the hospital as a 'child-friendly' hospital, one of the only two tertiary institutions to attain this status. By 2006 the hospital had also embarked on establishing a child-friendly outpatient service.

More than 100 000 children under the age of 13 are treated annually at the Outpatients division of the TBCH, and 16 000 are admitted to the Children's hospital. Of the 16 000, 1 000 receive surgery, 2 300 neurological services and 510 suffer from cancer.

Paediatricians working in the Children's Hospital also have a provincial responsibility to treat TB, meningitis and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. They are world leaders in the treatment and research of tuberculosis. Clinicians at the Children's Hospital are also involved in extensive research projects in the fields of HIV and Aids, cancer and the handling of newborn babies.

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Laticia Pienaar
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