More than 60 years of Organised Trauma Care: The Johannesburg Trauma Unit at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital

Abstract

The Johannesburg Hospital was opened in 1923 with a casualty department and wards. It was then known as Johannesburg General Hospital, commonly referred to as “The Gen” by many. In 1960, the Head of the Department of Surgery, Prof. DJ Du Plessis, recognised the need to organise trauma care. He is quoted saying, “A large proportion of the patients arriving in the hospital appear to have suffered traumatic injury,” and thus noted the need to reserve a separate area for the care of these patients.