Clinical activities | Teaching and training  | Research  | Timetable 

Staff

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Consultants:	Dr Alvin Ndondo	Alvin.Ndondo@uct.ac.za
	Dr Gill Riordan (5/8)	Gill.Riordan@uct.ac.za
Senior Registrars:	Dr Thabo Bisiwe (yr 2)	thabo.bisiwe@gmail.com
	Dr Ali Nasreldien (yr 2)	alielsir129@gmail.com
	Dr Fikile Ngqotso (yr 1)	fikiscish@gmail.com
	Dr Faith Mosha (yr 1)	drfaithmosha@gmail.com
	Dr Gwen Kandawasvika (yr 1)	gwenkandawasvika@gmail.com
Sessional Staff:	Dr Wendy Mathiassen (1 session)
	Dr Marie Wessels (2 sessions)
	Sharika Raga (PhD neuromuscular service)
Neuropsychology  (1 session):	Susan Malcolm-Smith
	Natalia Ing
Clinical Neuropsychology Technologists:	Helishia Dirks	Helishia.Dirks@westerncape. gov.za
	Veena Kander	Veena.Kander@uct.ac.za
Nursing Support:	Sr Sonday
	Nurse van Rensburg
Clerks:
Neurology	Noxolo Mdashe	Noxolo.Mdashe@westerncape.gov.za
Neurophysiology	Keitumetse Kojane	Keitumetse.Kojane@westerncape.gov.za

Location:
Clinics S27, 1st Floor, MOPD
Neurophysiology S25, 1st floor, OPD
Wards E2, 5th Floor, RXH

Patients Referral Guidelines: 
Ideally from paediatricians - faxed referral accepted, telephone consultations for doctors can be arranged via the neurology clerk (021) 658-5434.
 

Contact Numbers	CLINIC BOOKINGS	021-658-5434
	NEUROPHYSIOLOGY	021-658-5289
	WARD E2	021-658-5053
	FAX	021-658-5548

Clinical Activities

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Paediatric Neurology Department

Outreach service operates with regional specialist visits for both training and case assessment.

The service assists with establishing government guidelines aimed towards optimal care in a resource poor setting.

• Red Cross Children’s Hospital is the largest children’s hospital in Sub-Saharan Africa. It provides all levels of multidisciplinary care at an international level whilst taking in to account the limitations of being located in a resource poor country.
• The neurology service sees rare and complex diseases (epilepsy, neurometabolic, neurodegenerative, neuromuscular disorders).
• The vision and mission of the neurology service is directed specifically towards the impact from diseases of poverty, which dominate the service load, i.e.
  • tuberculosis
  • human immunodeficiency virus type 1
  • Post-streptococcal sequel.
• The neurology service is directed towards building and expanding capacity to manage both complex disorders and the neglected diseases of poverty from vulnerable populations.
• Dedicated clinics have established large cohorts of children from the Sub-Saharan African population
  • neuromuscular disease n=500
  • epilepsy n=3200
  • neurocutaneous disorders n=200
• Ongoing support of the infectious diseases service has resulted epidemiological data relating to the neurological impact of HIV-1 in childhood before and once commencing antiretroviral therapy.
• The complex epilepsy service inclusive of the clinical review also incorporates video EEG telemetry assessment and work-ups for potential epilepsy surgical candidates.
• The service operates in the region of 80 clinics a month, with almost 4000 clinic visits a year.
• There are 6 dedicated paediatric neurology beds but many more patients are managed on the “general wards” on a referral / advisory basis.

Neurophysiology Department

• The only centre dedicated to children in sub-Saharan Africa.
• The centre trains clinical neurophysiology technologists.
• Also exposes practitioners from throughout the country who require insight into neurophysiology techniques, procedures and interpretation.
• Over 2000 studies performed a year
• It is the only government centre equipped to perform video EEG telemetry on children and as such screen them for epilepsy surgery

Southern African Training Centre

• Leading training centre in South Africa for paediatric neurology training.
• The post follows international training guidelines.
• To date 16 trainees fully completed training (now in consultant posts), five more currently in training due to complete over 2022-2023.
• The team regard training as an essential way to improve care to children with neurological conditions – we are keen to set up links with other centres throughout Africa and offer training experiences either through attachments to our department or through invited training workshops via the African Paediatric Fellowship Program.

Teaching and training

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Undergraduate teaching:

Staff members contribute to weekly bedside teaching of 5th year medical students and seminars every 8 weeks to the whole group of students assigned to Paediatrics. Ward rounds are used to educate 5th and 6th year students.

Postgraduate teaching: 

The unit conducts regular seminars for paediatric registrars and contributes to the Wednesday morning academic meeting of the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health. Ward rounds are used to educate senior house officers and paediatric registrars.

The Neurology unit at RCWMCH is registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa as a training unit for paediatric Neurology sub-specialists. Trainees register with the University of Cape Town for this two-year course. Trainees must complete the exit examination set by the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa, a requirement for registering as a Neurologist sub-specialist in South Africa. Prof Jo Wilmshurst is the convenor of the training programme at Red Cross Children’s Hospital.  For a more comprehensive description of the training programme please visit the African Paediatric Fellowship Programme Curriculum page. 

Research

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Research projects are encouraged and the supervisors will facilitate this.

Neurology Unit Timetable

Day	Time	Description	Venue
Monday	08:30	General Neuro/ Neurometabolic Clinic	S27
	12:00	E2 Ward Round
	12:45	Neurodev Multidisciplinary
	13:00	Meeting	S6
	13:30	EEG Meeting	S25
	14:00	Neurophysiology
	15:00	NCS/EMG	S25
Tuesday	07:30	Neuroradiology Meeting	B3
	08:30	Neuromuscular Clinic	S27
	08:30	General Neurology Clinics	S27
	12:00	E2 Ward Meeting
	13:00	Journal Club/Research meetings	S25
	14:00	General Neurology Clinic
Wednesday	08:00	Department Clinical Meeting	D3
	09:00	Neurology Grand Round	E2
	09:00	Neurodevelopment Clinics	S6
	13:00	Epilepsy Clinic	S27
	14.00	EEG telem reporting	S25
	15:30	Epilepsy Handover/Epilepsy surgery meeting	S25
Thursday	08:30	Behavior Clinic/Gen Neuro/ Neuro/HIV Clinic	S27
	11:00	E2 Ward Round	E2
	13:00	Neurology Research Meeting	S25
	14:00	Student Teaching	E2
Friday	08.30	Neurocutaneous Clinic Neuro, NeuroSurg, Neurodev Clinic
	08:30	General Neurology Clinic
	12:00	Case Presentations	D3
	13:00	Pathology Meeting 1:4	3rd Floor, ICH