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24 August 2020 | Story Amanda Tongha | Photo Supplied
Keitumetse Betsy Eister says the information they provide is used by researchers “in conducting much-needed research aimed at contributing towards the knowledge base of South Africa, knowledge aimed at building our nation towards a developed country”.

The role of Keitumetse Betsy Eister, Director: Library and Information Services – who leads a diverse team of 65 staff members – is to ensure that the University of the Free State community has access to information. This is done to “support lecturers in teaching researched content to undergraduate and postgraduate students and to assist students in their learning expedition by supporting them towards academic success and life-long learning”. Giving an overview of the role of the UFS Library and Information Services, Eister adds that the information they provide is used by researchers “in conducting much-needed research aimed at contributing towards the knowledge base of South Africa, knowledge aimed at building our nation towards a developed country”. This information is also beneficial to support staff and the management of the university, who are using it to deliver well-researched services.

With a masters’ degree in Library and Information Services and working on her PhD, Eister is the right person to ensure that the right information gets to the right people. A mother of two and someone that colleagues look up to, there is much to learn about this UFS champion woman. 


Tell us about yourself

I was born and bred in Thaba Nchu 56 years ago. I remain grateful and proud of the type of parents I had, who instilled in me the belief and love for education, a foundation that has grounded me and led me to where I am today. 

I believe in the teachings of the late Steven Covey, one of which is “the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing”. In short, he says you need to stay focused on what you choose to do. In staying focused, I prefer to be driven by principles that have proven to have worked well in humanity, such as the government’s batho pele principles, ubuntu principles, ethical leadership principles, and so on.
 
On being a UFS staff member
 
I am proud of the 10 years I have spent as a Kovsie, with staff members who always remind me about the positive contributions I have made in their lives. Many of them have worked on their qualifications, some have obtained their first degrees, while others have improved their qualifications. At this stage, I can safely say the UFS LIS is a learning organisation, with four of us busy with doctoral studies, four with master’s studies, three with their honours, and six with their first degrees. We have also been working on our research capabilities, with two articles already published. 
 
Advice to her 15-year-old self

Looking back, I see a little girl who fortunately made the right choices in life. The most important one was to listen to my parents. I went to a girls’ high school, the St Anne’s High School. At one stage, we performed the Bible story, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, and I played the role of one of Pharaoh’s dancers. I developed a love for dancing and wanted to turn it into a career. My parents advised me to get my education first; I wasn’t very pleased with that, but I listened to them. I am glad that this 15-year-old worked on her education; I believe I would never have been the self-actualised woman I am today, given the dancing-career opportunities that were scarce for black people during those years. I believe education is key, whether you want to work as an employee or run your own business. It brings with it the maturity and knowledge required in both areas of productivity.  
 
Women who inspires her

Prof Mamokgethi Phakeng, the UCT Vice-Chancellor. She is a classic example of what it means to spend the 24 hours we all have in a day; what you do with it depends on you. I see her using it to make an impact on a number of fronts within her circles of life, showing what ‘woman power’ is capable of. UCT students call her ‘Deputy Mother’, hooking up with them on social media. I, for example, join her every Sunday at 16:00 during her one-hour sessions, taking us through all aspects of postgraduate studies; this is for anyone to join, not only UCT students. She has now started sessions on building a career in academia. She seems to be living a balanced life, also making time for exercising and hiking.

 


News Archive

Heart diseases a time bomb in Africa, says UFS expert
2010-05-17

 Prof. Francis Smit

There are a lot of cardiac problems in Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to the largest population of rheumatic heart disease patients in the world and therefore hosts the largest rheumatic heart valve population in the world. They are more than one million, compared to 33 000 in the whole of the industrialised world, says Prof. Francis Smit, Head of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS).

He delivered an inaugural lecture on the topic Cardiothoracic Surgery: Complex simplicity, or simple complexity?

“We are also sitting on a time bomb of ischemic heart disease with the WHO (World Health Organisation) estimating that CAD (coronary artery disease) will become the number-one killer in our region by 2020. HIV/Aids is expected to go down to number 7.”

Very little is done about it. There is neither a clear nor coordinated programme to address this expected epidemic and CAD is regarded as an expensive disease, confined to Caucasians in the industrialised world. “We are ignoring alarming statistics about incidences of adult obesity, diabetes and endemic hypertension in our black population and a rising incidence of coronary artery interventions and incidents in our indigenous population,” Prof. Smit says.

Outside South Africa – with 44 units – very few units (about seven) perform low volumes of basic cardiac surgery. The South African units at all academic institutions are under severe threat and about 70% of cardiac procedures are performed in the private sector.

He says the main challenge in Africa has become sustainability, which needs to be addressed through education. Cardiothoracic surgery must become part of everyday surgery in Africa through alternative education programmes. That will make this specialty relevant at all levels of healthcare and it must be involved in resource allocation to medicine in general and cardiothoracic surgery specifically.

The African surgeon should make the maximum impact at the lowest possible cost to as many people in a society as possible. “Our training in fields like intensive care and insight into pulmonology, gastroenterology and cardiology give us the possibility of expanding our roles in African medicine. We must also remember that we are trained physicians as well.

“Should people die or suffer tremendously while we can train a group of surgical specialists or retraining general surgeons to expand our impact on cardiothoracic disease in Africa using available technology maybe more creatively? We have made great progress in establishing an African School for Cardiothoracic Surgery.”

Prof. Smit also highlighted the role of the annual Hannes Meyer National Registrar Symposium that culminated in having an eight-strong international panel sponsored by the ICC of EACTS to present a scientific course as well as advanced surgical techniques in conjunction with the Hannes Meyer Symposium in 2010.

Prof. Smit says South Africa is fast becoming the driving force in cardiothoracic surgery in Africa. South Africa is the only country that has the knowledge, technology and skills base to act as the springboard for the development of cardiothoracic surgery in Africa.

South Africa, however, is experiencing its own problems. Mortality has doubled in the years from 1997 to 2005 and half the population in the Free State dies between 40 to 44 years of age.

“If we do not need health professionals to determine the quality and quantity of service delivery to the population and do not want to involve them in this process, we can get rid of them, but then the political leaders making that decision must accept responsibility for the clinical outcomes and life expectancies of their fellow citizens.

“We surely cannot expect to impose the same medical legal principles on professionals working in unsafe hospitals and who have complained and made authorities aware of these conditions than upon those working in functional institutions. Either fixes the institutions or indemnifies medical personnel working in these conditions and defends the decision publicly.

“Why do I have to choose the three out of four patients that cannot have a lifesaving operation and will have to die on their own while the system pretends to deliver treatment to all?”

Prof. Smit says developing a service package with guidelines in the public domain will go a long way towards addressing this issue. It is also about time that we have to admit that things are simply not the same. Standards are deteriorating and training outcomes are or will be affected.

The people who make decisions that affect healthcare service delivery and outcomes, the quality of training platforms and research, in a word, the future of South African medicine, firstly need rules and boundaries. He also suggested that maybe the government should develop health policy in the public domain and then outsource healthcare delivery to people who can actually deliver including thousands of experts employed but ignored by the State at present.

“It is time that we all have to accept our responsibilities at all levels… and act decisively on matters that will determine the quality and quantity of medical care for this and future generations in South Africa and Africa. Time is running out,” Prof. Smit says.
 

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