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MB ChB class of 2020 completes medical programme with a 98,3% pass rate

17 December 2020

The more than 100 medical students who graduated virtually from the University of the Free State (UFS) Faculty of Health Sciences on Monday (14 December), graduated with a pass rate of 98% in a tumultuous year dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The MB ChB class of 2020 – a total of 104 students from the School of Clinical Medicine – graduated virtually on 14 December due to COVID-19. Another virtual graduation is scheduled for 4 January 2021.

An uncomfortable reality
Dr Lynette van der Merwe, undergraduate medical programme director in the School of Clinical Medicine at the UFS, congratulated the latest UFS doctors on their success. Said Dr Van der Merwe: “In a tumultuous year dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic, this group of final-year medical students refused to give in to the pressure and disruption of national lockdown, emergency remote teaching, an adjusted academic calendar, and frontline exposure as healthcare professionals in training.”

“They persevered against all odds, faced up to an uncomfortable reality, and showed remarkable resilience.”

According to Dr Van der Merwe, the class of 2020 completed the gruelling five-year medical programme with a pass rate of 98,3%, impressing external examiners who commented on their respectful attitude towards patients and thorough knowledge and skill.

“The School of Clinical Medicine and Faculty of Health Sciences are immensely proud of our new colleagues and look forward to their contribution to the future of healthcare in South Africa. This achievement would not have been possible without the unwavering commitment of the academic and support staff who guided our students and led the way for them to achieve a life-long dream.”

“We look back with gratitude on a year that required more than the usual amount of adaptability, creativity, innovation, faith, patience, bravery, and endurance. It is these qualities that set apart the doctors who graduate from the UFS, and those who train them,” says Dr Van der Merwe.

Hope for the future
She says while COVID-19 is still a harsh reality and the future holds much uncertainty, 2020 has shown that there is hope when we face challenges with grace under pressure, and a firm belief in our goals and values. “Class of 2020, may you continue to rise above fear, chaos and disappointment, may you take heart and walk your journey with strength, may you bring healing to our people and lead us well.”

Drs Kaamilah Joosub and Lynette Upman, who also graduated on Monday, were awarded the prestigious Bongani Mayosi Medical Students Academic Prize – a national award which aims to recognise final-year medical students who epitomise the academic, legendary, and altruistic life of the late Prof Mayosi. The awards are presented to final-year MB ChB students from all South African medical faculties. This is the first year it has been awarded.

• View the virtual graduation

News Archive

UFS DiMTEC will help compile national emergency management system

2017-10-11

Preparedness and response are the two most important aspects of managing disaster when it strikes. Prof Andries Jordaan, Head of the Disaster Management Training and Education Centre for Africa (DiMTEC) at the University of the Free State (UFS) recently attended an incident command course in California in the US.

Learning from US disaster management systems
More than 20 specialists from 17 countries attended the course where participants were introduced to the National Incident Management System (NIMS) in the US. The system was implemented after lessons learned during 9/11. “According to the NIMS structure, all government organisations at all levels as well as emergency agencies had to standardise terminology and systems,” said Prof Jordaan.

The professor also had the opportunity to visit among others the Federal Emergency Management (FEMA) headquarters in California, some State Coordination Centres as well as several other disaster management centres. He also had the chance to shadow an Incident Management Team (IMT) during active operations.

Providing training for local disaster management
Insight gained during this course, as well as Prof Jordaan’s experience as senior officer in the South African National Defence Reserve Forces, provided him the necessary background to conduct training and give assistance in terms of disaster management.

Through DiMTEC Prof Jordaan will assist the National Disaster Management Centre with the implementation of a national emergency management system. He will also provide training for incident management teams.

“DiMTEC is currently also in the process of developing a Master module in disaster response. Command and control and Incident Command will form a sub-module in the disaster response module,” he said.

From South Africa, Prof Jordaan was joined on the course by General Elias Mpumelelo Mahlabane from the South African Police Services, who is responsible for disaster management in the SAPS. Savage Breytenbach, a trainer in rural fire fighting who assists Mangaung with command and control structures, also attended the course.

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