| Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital | |
| Org/Group: | Western Cape Department of Health |
| Map Type: | Cape Town |
| Coordinates: | -33.954°N 18.488°W |
| Region: | Cape Town |
| State: | Western Cape |
| Country: | South Africa |
| Healthcare: | Department of Health |
| Funding: | Public |
| Type: | Specialist |
| Speciality: | Paediatrics |
| Affiliation: | University of Cape Town, University of the Western Cape, Stellenbosch University |
| Beds: | 300 |
| Founded: | 1956 |
Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa was opened in 1956[1] [2] through public subscription as a memorial to soldiers lost in the Second World War. The suggestion that the memorial take the form of a children's hospital was proposed by Vyvyan U.T. Watson. Mr Watson, a prominent businessman, had lost his first born and only son, Peter Tennant Watson, at about four years old, to an outbreak of diphtheria in Cape Town. Mr Watson was a major force in steering the organization of the building of the hospital. The Peter Pan statue on the hospital grounds, sculpted by Ivan Mitford-Barberton, was donated by Mr Watson and his wife, Gwendolyn. Mr Watson was later President of the South African Red Cross Society. It is one of two dedicated children's public hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only a few dedicated children's hospitals in the Southern hemisphere.
The hospital has academic links to the University of Cape Town's School of Child and Adolescent Health,[3] the University of the Western Cape Dental School and the University of Stellenbosch;[4] it is regarded as South Africa's leading centre for post-graduate specialist paediatric medical and surgical training.They called the hospital Red Cross so that when there’s fire someone will shout code red