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31 August 2018 Photo Godfrey Ndoda
UFS Mobile Clinic - an exemplary framework of innovation
Free State Department of Health and the UFS Faculty of Health Sciencesentered into a partnership set to improve primary health care in the Free State society.
The Coordinator of Community Engagement and Rural Health in the Faculty of Health Sciences, Dr René Botha, described the unveiling and handing-over ceremony of the University of the Free State (UFS) Faculty of Health Sciences’ Mobile Clinic as “an auspicious and phenomenal occasion in the history of the faculty, and the institution as a whole”.

This mobile healthcare service will align itself with the current mobile service offered by the Free State Department of Health (FSDH) and will include an optometry service. This is the first service of its kind and aims to expose students and the broader community to mobile primary healthcare on rural platforms.

This collaboration between the Faculty of Health Sciences and the FSDH is believed to change and improve lives.   

“The purpose of the clinic is to enrich current primary healthcare measures that were implemented through valuable collaborations. This will result in the betterment of community members who have limited access to healthcare resources,” explained Dr Botha.

UFS medical students have been working on a continuous healthcare programme that started in 2016. The programme operates in areas in the southern Free State, where students engage with the community, schools, clinics, and are making home visits to residents in the area. The main purpose of the programme is to find solutions to key healthcare problems in the region. 

The MEC of Health, Montseng Tsiu, addressed the audience and explained, “implementing primary healthcare holistically through the mobile clinic, will benefit residents in rural areas who have a lack of facilities”. 

According to Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor, the mobile clinic is an example of the innovation framework that cultivates the university’s mandate. The mandate stipulates the creation and maintenance of equitable partnerships with the province, the FSDH, the Department of Education, and many other crucial stakeholders that will ensure the imparting of knowledge, excellence, and quality in contributing to society.

News Archive

HEDSA discusses better services for students with disabilities
2010-09-30

At the gala dinner were, from the left: Anlia Pretorius, Chairperson of HEDSA and Head of the Disability Unit at the University of the Witwatersrand; Dr Blade Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education and Training; Ms Hetsie Veitch, Head of the Unit for Students with Disabilities at the UFS; and Prof. Niel Viljoen, Vice-Rector: Operations at the UFS.
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

The first ever General Meeting of the Higher Education Disability Services Association (HEDSA) was held on the Main Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein this week. HEDSA is a newly constituted body that represents the Disability Units from the various universities across the country.

The UFS is a member of HEDSA, which aims to work together to promote equal opportunities for students with disabilities in terms of access, participation and success in Higher Education.

The General Meeting forms part of the launching symposium with the theme: New Beginnings and New Directions. The symposium, attended by 15 higher education institutions in South Africa, served as a platform to explore innovative approaches to assist in improving services for students with disabilities.

Dr Blade Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education and Training, was one of the speakers at the gala dinner of this prestigious event. He said that there is still a lot of work to do to overcome discrimination against students as well as staff members with disabilities at higher education institutions. Minister Nzimande quoted from the Soudien report, a government-commissioned report that brought to light discrimination – especially racism and sexism – still endemic at South African universities. “Victims, in this instance referring to students and staff with disabilities, are denied the opportunity – either through a lack of access to opportunities or due to outright discrimination – to realise their full potential. In the process, the country is robbed of valuable but untapped human resources. Higher education institutions cause incalculable damage to South African society by failing to deal boldly with these issues. Where institutions have indeed taken action, the benefits to individuals, to the different social groups in the country, as well as to the institutions themselves, have been major.”

He stated that he believed that HEDSA as well as the symposium could play a vital role that would assist in this process.

Ms Hetsie Veitch, Head of the Unit for Students with Disabilities at the UFS, was elected as treasurer of this body for the following two years. Johnny Mokoka will represent the UFS in HEDSA’s National Student Organisation for Students with Disabilities that was established during the symposium this week.

Media Release
Issued by: Leonie Bolleurs
Strategic Communication
Tel: 051 401 2707
Sel: 0836455853
Email: bolleursl@ufs.ac.za  
30 September 2010

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