The Department and Clinic of Orthopedic Surgery of the Medical University of Silesia in Bytom was established on September 15, 1952 as the third orthopedic clinic in Poland, after the one in Poznań and Warsaw. The decision of the Council of the Faculty of Medicine in Zabrze was established.
The pioneering role of creating Polish orthopedic and trauma surgery in Silesia was undertaken by a student and associate of prof. dr Adam Gruca - prof. dr Marian Garlicki, who was its first Head in the years 1952-1958. It was established on the basis of the Municipal Hospital no. 2 in Bytom at ul. Batorego 2, initially in the general surgery building, and from October 20, 1954, in its own modern building with a spacious operating block and research, laboratory and rehabilitation facilities. In the same year, the Provincial Orthopedic Clinic and Orthopedic Workshops were launched at the Clinic.
Initially, Clinic had 125 orthopedic and trauma beds, including 50 for children, then two floors were added for a children's ward equipped with a gym and swimming pools for exercise, diagnostic facilities, X-ray, biochemical and electromyographic laboratories were expanded. The operating block is equipped with modern equipment, including resuscitation equipment.
Teaching activities included lectures and exercises for fifth-year students of the medical faculty in the field of orthopedics and traumatology. The exercises took place in the clinic. The lectures used the apparatus and the Clinic's own material in the form of demonstrations of patients, X-ray slides, boards and plaster models. The exercise program included clinical, surgical, and outpatient exercises and one 24-hour emergency room. During the holidays, student internships for the first and second year were conducted.
The Clinic has its own archive of slides, photographs and radiographs for exercises and lectures. The clinical library, richly equipped with textbooks and domestic and foreign magazines, could exist mainly thanks to the donations of befriended people and centres.
In the fight against trauma and its consequences in Silesia, the Clinic played a superior role. With the cooperation of the Head of the Clinic, who is also the Provincial Specialist for Orthopedics and Traumatology, eight field centers existing in Silesia were provided with scientific care: the Institute of Trauma Surgery in Piekary Śląskie and the Orthopedic and Traumatic Surgery Departments in: Częstochowa, Czeladź, Chorzów, Rybnik, Gliwice, Mysłowice and Katowice .
In 1982, due to progressive, advanced damage to the Clinic's building as a result of mining damage, the adult wards (about 80 beds) were transferred to the Municipal Hospital in Czeladź, using the existing trauma and orthopedic ward and the surgical part (about 50 beds). The children's ward, the operating block, the clinic and the rehabilitation department remained in Bytom. It was a very difficult period in the Clinic's activity due to the sudden death of its manager (Izabela Szwarnowiecka, MD, PhD, died in December 1983), the disintegration of the Clinic's team as a result of working in different places and the loss of all medical and scientific documentation from due to the destruction of the archive.
In November 1988, it was created on the basis of the newly opened, modern and well-equipped Mining Hospital in Sosnowiec, the Department and Clinic of Orthopedics of the Medical University of Silesia. Its head, prof. dr hab. n. med. Andrzej Tokarowski, organized two wards for adults: orthopedic and trauma, and a children's ward. The clinic had 102 beds and full round-the-clock duty for miners and their families, as well as accepting patients from outside the mining industry for treatment. From 1998 to 2005, the Department and Clinical Department of Orthopedics was headed by prof. dr hab. n. med. Tadeusz S. Gaździk. In the years 2008-2012, the management of the Clinic was held by dr n.med. Roman Nowak. The head of the Orthopedics Clinic in 2012-2019 was prof. dr hab. n. med. Tomasz Bielecki.
Since 2019, the Head of the Clinical Department of Orthopedics of the Medical University of Silesia, Faculty of Medical Sciences in Zabrze is Maciej Wrotniak, MD, PhD.