President Mills unaware of Prof. Frimpong-Boateng’s dismissal
The hawks in the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) have supplanted yet again the Constitutional powers of President John Atta Mills by engineering the removal of Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng from the Cardiothoracic Unit of the Korle-bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.
The dismissal of the world acclaimed heart surgeon is leading to the brewing of tension at the unit.
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng was dismissed last Thursday by the Minister of Health, Joseph Yieleh-Chireh, who assigned no reasons for the surgeon’s removal, while the President was out of the country on an official visit in South Africa.
Sources close to the President’s office and the NDC say they believe the President is unaware, but stopped short of elaborating. This development goes to confirm former President Rawlings’s fears that some of the hawks in the ruling party are supplanting the President’s powers by appointing into and removing people from office without his consent.
Former President Rawlings is on record to have said at a closed-door meeting of high ranking NDC officials that Prof. Kofi Awoonor has appointed someone into an office that the President already had appointed a different person for, but the President was helpless in reversing the decision of Prof. Awoonnor, who is the Chairman of the Council of State, a Constitutional advisory body.
The removal of Prof. Frimpong-Boateng however, was received with mixed feelings and anger in some quarters around the country. The staff of the Cardiothoracic Unit of the country’s leading teaching hospital are reported to have withdrawn some services.
This morning, ghanabusinessnews.com correspondent at the Korle-bu Teaching Hospital, Ekow Quandzie, reports that the entrances of the Unit are draped in red pieces of cloths. Some medical personnel at the Unit he also reports are holding red bands.
According to him, the doctors are attending only to patients who are already in the Unit, but patients with appointments won’t be seen.
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng however, has been described as an experienced and dedicated hand that should not be treated in that way.
Dr. Mahama Zakaria of the Police Hospital, who told ghanabusinessnews.com that he was the first Resident under Prof. Frimpong-Boateng described him as committed to his work and this country.
“The country stands to lose from his expertise and international contacts. We will continue to need his services even he is 75 years old,” he said.
Dr. Zakaria recounted the early days when Prof. Frimpong-Boateng returned from Hannover in Germany. He said Prof. Frimpong-Boateng was offered a grant to do a research in Hannover for his Professorship, but he declined the offer saying he was not interested in being called a Professor, and instead he channelled the grant into Ghana to train other doctors and nurses to acquire skills in cardiac surgery.
“Prof. Frimpong-Boateng was not only doing cardiac surgery, he would operate on every patient, in so far as he know about the disease and can treat it,” he said.
Prof. Frimpong-Boateng helped to establish the National Cardio Thoracic Centre in Ghana in 1992. The Centre is now recognised by the West African College of Surgeons to train heart surgeons, cardiologists, cardiac anaesthetists, operating room nurses, intensive care nurses, cardiac technicians, and other cardiothoracic technicians.
He also performed the first open-heart surgery in Ghana using the heart-lung-machine.
Meanwhile, doctors at the Unit have petitioned the government to reinstate the heart surgeon.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
it is very unfair to treat kind hearted men who have left all opportunities just for his country.i think this statement of dismisal should be withdrawn.
I was caught off balance when I heard the news that Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng has been fired/removed from the Cardiothoracic Unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
The notice is said to have come from the Ministry of Health,the ministry under which the unit operates.Reasons were not given for his dismmisal/removal.However, it is being speculated that he is teaching at Ghana Medical School so he must be relieved of his duties at the Cardiothoracic Centre so as to give full attention to teaching at the medical school.
Obviously, there is more to this development than what is in the open now. Certainly,his removal cannot be on grounds of incompetence,capacity,skills,commitment,intergrity,drive etc.
It will be ridiculous and ludicurous to remove him on such grounds.
The outstanding achievements of Prof. Frimpong-Boateng in his proffession and beyond, are unreservedly acclaimed in and outside
Ghana, and bi-partisanly as well.
This morning on a radio station,there was a panel discussion on the
matter. The constitution of the panel was two NDC supporters and two NPP supporters. And guess what, all four panelists condemned
the removal unreservedly. An NDC panelist on the programme went to the extent of suggesting that the Minister of Health should rather be fired, and the Prof. reinstated. One of the rare times that one is politically proud to be a Ghanaian.
Clearly, there is no positive grounds for the dismissal.Nonetheless,
let me speculate. Could it be that because he has been there for too long,
having founded the centre in 1992 ?. Or could it be on political grounds ? Was it not in the Jerry John era that he founded the centre ?
Some of the things this decision has precipitated is a strike action by
the staff of the Cardiothoracic Centre in support of the Prof. A needless one at that. If it is true that the President is not in the know
that Prof. Frimpong-Boateng has been fired,that is before he was fired,
then this could be cause for confusion and division in government.
However, the good news is that the President is meeting with the staff of the Cardiothoracic Centre to help find solution to hopefully
not only the strike action, but the root cuase of the strike as well.
In summation, I think the decision to remove/dismiss Prof. was not properly researched.It was reckless.It was not informed.It is a faux pas. Steps should be taken to reverse the decision, and lessons learnt from it.
ghanaians are very ungrateful