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14 August 2020 | Story Anban Naidoo | Photo Charl Devenish

Students returning for the second semester should take note of the following important dates. Also note that the online self-service facility for module changes and additions will be available until 11 September 2020. If you are unable to register online and need assistance with changes to your registration, please contact your relevant faculty for academic advice/approval.

Important second-semester dates:

• 31 July 2020: Predicate day
• 3 August 2020: Main mid-year examination commences
• 22 August 2020: Main mid-year examination ends
• 22 August 2020: Final date to submit final marks for module with continuous assessment
• 24 August 2020: Mid-year additional examination commences
• 27 August 2020: Mid-year additional examination ends
• 28 to 31 August 2020: UFS long weekend (no academic activity)
• 1 September 2020: Second semester commences
• 1 September 2020: Second-semester registration commences (Faculty of Health Sciences)
• 2 September 2020: Final date to transfer marks for the first semester (excluding Faculty of Health Sciences)
• 3 September 2020: Second-semester registration commences (all faculties, excluding Health Sciences)
• 3 September 2020: Mid-year additional examination ends
• 10 September 2020: Final date to transfer marks for the first semester (only Faculty of Health Sciences)
• 11 September 2020: Second-semester registration ends
• 11 September 2020: Last date to cancel year modules and second-semester modules with financial credit
• 24 to 27 September: 2020: UFS long weekend
• 30 September 2020: Last date for master’s and doctoral students to register for the second semester
• 30 October to 2 November 2020: UFS long weekend
• 27 November 2020: Second-semester classes ends
• 30 November 2020 to 18 December 2020: Main Examinations
• January 2021 to 16 January 2021: Additional Examinations


News Archive

UFS doctors fight childhood cancer
2016-09-02

Description: Childhood cancer  Tags: Childhood cancer

Prof David Stones and Dr Jan du Plessis of the
University of Free State’s paediatric oncology ward
are helping little lives, one patient at a time.
Photo: Nonsindiso Qwabe

Of 23 paediatric oncology specialists nationally, Prof David Stones and Dr Jan du Plessis of the University of Free State are the only ones in the province.

Committed to giving holistic care to their patients, the two doctors specialise in all types of childhood cancers, the most common being leukaemia, brain tumour, and nephroblastoma.

They describe the childhood malignancy as a lethal disease, unpredictability being its harshest trait. “With cancer, you can just never know. It precipitates and multiplies, and leads to the failure of other organs. You can just always hope, and keep trying,” said Du Plessis.

The paediatric oncology unit of the Universitas Academic Hospital, their unit, is the liveliest floor in the entire building. It is also the third busiest in South Africa, serving a demographic that spans the Free State and Northern Cape, as well as parts of North West, Eastern Cape and Lesotho.

Each year, the unit receives more than 100 new childhood cancer patients. In 2015, the unit had 113 newly diagnosed patients, an increase from 93 in 2014.

Lack of knowledge poses a serious challenge
According to the two experts, the lack of insight and awareness of the disease remain a big challenge to fighting it. “It is frustrating. Parents and family members don’t know anything about it. Nurses and doctors aren’t always clinically trained to pick up the early warning signs. By the time a diagnosis is made, life and death is on a 50% margin,” Stones said.

Poverty, a lack of resources, overcrowding and a range of health issues are other factors that have a profound effect on the diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

Making a contribution that will last
With a desire to see an improvement on life outcomes in the health sector, the team is focusing on educating the country’s doctors of tomorrow. Their unit is the only one in the country that actively involves medical students in an oncology unit, giving them practical experience and exposure to the individual cases each patient presents. They have also produced a substantial amount of research literature on childhood malignancies in South Africa as a developing country.

Driven by passion to see a better South Africa
The doctors are passionate about the work they do, and remain hopeful there will be a change in the incidence of childhood cancer   not just in decreased levels of the disease, but also in the overall state of well-being of young South Africans.

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