The Sports Injury Clinic at Groote Schuur Hospital is a first for South Africa.

The University of Cape Town (UCT) says the clinic will cater to members of the public with acute or chronic sports injuries who are unable to afford sports injury rehabilitation services.

Dr Jeroen Swart and Dr Caroline Dalton‚ sports medicine academic staff at UCT’s Division of Exercise Science and Sports Medicine‚ will provide clinical sports medicine services to the public every Wednesday at the Orthopaedic Outpatient Clinic. Patient referrals will be accepted via an online referral system on the UCT website.

Patients who need early surgical intervention will be fast-tracked into subspecialist orthopaedic clinics at Groote Schuur.

Swart said that many lesser-privileged patients had been unable to access sports medicine expertise and had been side-lined from physical activity as a result of their injuries.

 The new weekly clinic will allow these patients to access the care that they could otherwise not afford‚ said UCT.