MEC for Health, Dr Benny Malakoane with Mr Kagisho Wolf, Project Engineer from CRPM examining the medical planning model for patients with birth defects. With them is Joseph Nsengimana, Lecturer Assistant: Mechanical/Mechatronic Engineering and the MEC’s Aide.  

Free State MEC for Health, Dr Benny Malakoane, visited CUT yesterday, 18 April 2016 as part of his department’s effort to collaborate with the University on a number of areas that will not only be mutually beneficial to the two institutions, but also central to their aspirations of uplifting the lives of people in the Province.   According to the University management, his visit was important in strengthening the existing partnership with the Department. The MEC showed interest in CUT’s research capacity, technological innovations as well as its acquisition of the 3D printing technology. 

He toured the Centre for Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing (CRPM) and witnessed how CUT is using this technology to restore the quality of life of seemingly ordinary people, particularly those with severe facial disfigurements as result of cancerous tumours or injuries. CUT’s envisaged new Dental Therapy Programme which will be introduced in the near future and the University’s plan to establish Maxillofacial Periodontics Unit so that the University is able to perform more reconstructive surgeries. “As far as Prosthodontics, occupational therapy and assistive devices are concerned, we have a lot to do in collaborating our efforts,” said MEC Malakoane.  “We need to equip our dental clinics in a manner that is prescribed,” he concluded.   He commended CUT for extending the dental services programme to the community and pledged to support placement of CUT students who are in Dental Assisting Programme for their experiential training.

  

The MEC is inspecting a wheelchair with the adjustable tray for people who do not have all their hand functions. The innovation was a collective effort by CRPM, PDTS and Universitas’s Department of Occupational Therapy.