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21 October 2021 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa

The University of the Free State (UFS) is currently developing a COVID-19 Regulations and Required Vaccination Policy that all students will have to adhere to in 2022. This policy is being developed to ensure a safe environment for all staff and students upon their return in 2022. 

The university is taking these measures to minimise the risk of exposing staff and students to infection and to enable a safe return to all three UFS campuses next year. However, the university will implement the policy in such a way that it will adequately accommodate individuals who are choosing not to get vaccinated for legitimate reasons.

In order to encourage our students to make the responsible choice by keeping themselves and others safe, the UFS Division of Student Affairs (DSA) is launching a COVID-19 Vaccination Drive that will take place from Monday, 25 October to Wednesday, 27 October 2021.

The programme is as follows:


Monday, 25 October 2021
When: 11:00-14:00
Where: outside Gate 5, UFS Bloemfontein Campus
What: Live performances by students, KovsieFM, KovsieTV, Vox Pops, free UFS branded T-shirts, and giveaways

Wednesday, 27 October 2021
When: 11:00-14:00
Where: Thakaneng Bridge
What: Live performances by local artists and students, KovsieFM, KovsieTV, Vox Pops, free UFS branded T-shirts, and giveaways

COVID-19 Vaccination panel discussion

The Vaccination Drive will conclude on Wednesday, 27 October 2021 with an online panel discussion titled: COVID Vaccination. Informed Youth. Informed Decisions. 
The discussion will start at 16:00 on MS Teams, and students are welcome to join us and ask for advice or clarification about the vaccine from our panel members. The link will be provided soon.

Facilitator: 
Dr Musa Mthombeni, Local TV personality

Panel members include:
Tshepo Moloi, Alumni and Economist representation business sector
Dr Musawenkosi Donia Saurombe, Youngest female PhD holder, lecturer and UFS Alumni
Jerry Thoka, ISRC President
Vusumzi Gqalane, SRC Policy and Transformation on the UFS Vaccination Policy
Asive Dlanjwa, South African Union of Students (SAUS) spokesperson
Victor Sekekete, Free State Cheetahs Rugby Player
Shaxe Khumalo, Entertainment Industry


For more information on the vaccination drive, contact Rethabile Motseki, motsekir@ufs.ac.za or Michelle Nothling at NothlingM@ufs.ac.za 

News Archive

UFS cardiologists and surgeons give children a beating heart
2015-04-23

Photo: René-Jean van der Berg

A team from the University of the Free State School for Medicine work daily unremittingly to save the lives of young children who have been born with heart defects by carrying out highly specialised interventions and operations on them. These operations, which are nowadays performed more and more frequently by cardiologists from the UFS School of Medicine, place the UFS on a similar footing to world-class cardiology and cardio-thoracic units.

One of the children is seven-month-old Montsheng Ketso who recently underwent a major heart operation to keep the left ventricle of her heart going artificially.

Montsheng was born with a rare, serious defect of the coronary artery, preventing the left ventricle from receiving enough blood to pump to the rest of the body.

This means that the heart muscle can suffer damage because these children essentially experience a heart attack at a very young age.

In a healthy heart, the left ventricle receives oxygenated blood from the left atrium. Then the left ventricle pumps this oxygen-rich blood to the aorta whence it flows to the rest of the body. The heart muscle normally receives blood supply from the oxygenated aorta blood, which in this case cannot happen.

Photo: René-Jean van der Berg

“She was very ill. I thought my baby was going to die,” says Mrs Bonizele Ketso, Montsheng’s mother.

She says that Montsheng became sick early in February, and she thought initially it was a tight chest or a cold. After a doctor examined and treated her baby, Montsheng still remained constantly ill, so the doctor referred her to Prof Stephen Brown, paediatric cardiologist at the UFS and attached to Universitas Hospital.

Here, Prof Brown immediately got his skilled team together as quickly as possible to diagnose the condition in order to operate on Montsheng.

During the operation, the blood flow was restored, but since Montsheng’s heart muscle was seriously damaged, the heart was unable to contract at the end of the operation. Then she was coupled to a heart-lung machine to allow the heart to rest and give the heart muscle chance to recover. The entire team of technologists and the dedicated anaesthetist, Dr Edwin Turton, kept a vigil day and night for several days.

Prof Francis Smit, chief specialist at the UFS Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, explains that without this operation Montsheng would not have been able to celebrate her first birthday.

“After the surgery, these children can reach adulthood without further operations. Within two to three months after the operation, she will have a normal active life, although for about six months she will still use medication. Thereafter, she will be tiptop and shortly learn to crawl and walk.”

Mrs Ketso is looking forward enormously to seeing her daughter stand up and take her first steps. A dream which she thought would never come true.    

“Write there that I really love these doctors.”

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