Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
24 November 2020 | Story Andre Damons
Prof Gert van Zyl, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, presented a copy of the book to Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor.

Looking at the history and highlights of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS) you will find a golden thread of innovation running throughout. The faculty has not been afraid of the unknown and its focus has always been on patients and quality academic education.

This is according to Prof Gert van Zyl, Dean of the faculty, who gave an overview at the virtual launch of the book: The History of the Faculty of Health Sciences: 2004 – 2020 on Tuesday (17 October 2020). Prof Johan Diedericks, Emeritus Professor in the Dean’s office, is the author of the book.

This book launch was part of the faculty’s 50-year anniversary celebrations.

A two-year journey

Prof Diedericks said the journey to materialising the book started two years ago when Prof Van Zyl “coaxed” him into compiling it. “At that stage I was writing the history of the Department of Anesthesiology and still had a 6/8 clinical appointment which meant I only had one day a week free to work on the book.

“But it was time well-spent. It started off with reading a lot of minutes and annual reports but at the same, time I requested and begged (but did not threaten) the departments for information. That was quite difficult. Several people assisted me in getting the information but the material came in slowly” said Prof Diedericks.

There was also cooperation from all the heads of schools who eventually made sure he got the information he needed. He wrote some of the sections himself and also edited and re-wrote parts of the information he received to ensure everything is the same format.

The book consists of eight chapters and five appendices with graphs and statistics. Chapter one is an overview of the changes since 2004 the present day and chapter two is about the office of the dean followed by the five schools in the faculty and all the departments within the schools.  The last chapter has information on other sections such as the Frik Scott Medical Library, National Health Laboratory Service, the SA Doping Control Laboratory (SADoCoL) and student organisations.

Faculty highlights

Prof Van Zyl said he was sure the experiences learnt from the past 50 years had prepared the faculty to survive 2020 – the year of COVID-19. In his overview, he spoke about the human contribution.

“The human contribution is the mortar between the bricks of this faculty, our staff and students not just today, but over 50 years. Looking at the history of the faculty and reflecting back, it was built by the collective and individual efforts of women and men in the faculty to ensure that each and every step is taken with integrity and quality to take us forward.”

He said he hopes this history will not only offer adequate information to appreciate the huge contribution that members of the Faculty of Health Sciences, the university community, and the entire Free State had made in health over the past 50 years.

Re-inventing yourself 

Prof Francis Petersen, UFS Rector and Vice-Chancellor, who received a copy of the book from Prof van Zyl, had a message to every one attending the virtual event: “If you don’t understand your history, where you come from, it is very difficult to know where you are going.

“In a learning environment such as the university, we always have to renew ourselves and you can renew yourself through what is happening in your current environment, through what happened in your history and also through what is happening in innovation going forward. I think that is the message captured in this book.

“There are various re-inventions that happened over this period and we should continue with that going forward as members of the faculty, as students, and as alumni of the faculty. The faculty can even go far beyond where it is at the moment. But we must remember we are standing on the shoulders of individuals who made major contributions, not only to the faculty, but to the province, to the country and internationally. We have a duty and responsibility to build on that and I know the faculty is doing that,” concluded Prof Petersen.

News Archive

Suspension of the South African Doping Control Laboratory (SADoCoL) by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)
2016-05-04

The senior leadership of the UFS and the management of the South African Doping Control Laboratory (SADoCoL) take note of the decision by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to suspend the laboratory’s accreditation to perform doping control analysis on biological samples of athletes and sportsmen and -women until 30 September 2016. During this time of suspension, all sport-related samples will be sent for analysis to the WADA accredited laboratory in Qatar until the accreditation of SADoCoL is re-established. Analysis according to WADA accreditation will therefore not be interrupted during the period of the suspension of the accreditation of SADoCoL.

The announcement by WADA on 3 May 2016 follows a voluntary decision by SADoCoL in March 2016 to temporarily close the laboratory for some of its routine analytical duties for six months, as from 1 April 2016. The decision was taken in consultation with the senior leadership of the UFS and other role players, especially the Department of Sport and Recreation of South Africa (SRSA) and the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS). SADoCoL is a specialised service laboratory of the University of the Free State (UFS) and has been in existence for more than thirty years.

Due to the ever-increasing demands on the number, variety and analytical sensitivity of compounds to be analysed according to the Prohibited List of WADA, technical and infrastructure adaptations need to be implemented in the laboratory continuously to keep up with the demands. Over the last year, SADoCoL has drastically increased its capacity in both personnel and infrastructure, to a point where these changes can be implemented for optimal performance of the laboratory.  This has to be done while normal routine analysis continues, and it became clear that at present, implementation cannot be successfully accomplished together with the workload from normal routine analyses.

The time of suspension will be utilised to implement and test these new systems in order to achieve the standard presently required by WADA, as well as to perform development and improvements.  This development will be performed in close collaboration with other role players in the anti-doping movement in South Africa, such as SAIDS and SRSA. Scientific development aid will also be acquired from other doping control laboratories worldwide in order to assure that the high analytical quality is maintained and expanded to meet the fast growing challenges in this field. The progress of the process will be closely monitored, and the upgraded methodologies will then, after rigorous testing, be implemented to ensure that the required analytical quality is maintained so as to obtain re-accreditation by WADA at the conclusion of the suspension period.

Issued by: Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Brand Management)
Telephone: +27(0)51 401 2584 or +27 (0) 83 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za
Fax: +27 (0) 51 444 6393

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept