We eulogise Prof. Kwabena Frimpong Boateng – Ablakwa

Okuzeto Ablakwa

In the wake of the widespread condemnation that followed the dismissal of renowned heart surgeon Prof. Kwabena Frimpong Boateng from the Cardiothoracic Centre, the government has eulogised him for his contribution to the centre.

As the first known Blackman to have performed a heart transplant, Prof. Frompong Boateng, according to Deputy Information Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, can only be adored by Ghanaians.

Reiterating the point that the letter, signed by Health Minister Joseph Yieleh Chireh, which dismissed the Director in Charge of the National Cardio-thoracic Centre (NCC), with immediate effect, was inappropriately crafted, the deputy minister said President John Mills has directed Deputy Health Minister, Rojo Mettle-Nunoo to reach out to the man his boss sacked and prevail on him to stay on for a month and manage a proper transition.

A former President of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Prof. Agyemang Badu Akosa, told Joy FM's Super Morning Show that the president's admission that the Health Minister's letter could have been better was the meat of the issue.

He said it was legitimate to ask why a responsible person such as the Minister of Health would sign a letter that virtually told Prof. Frimpong Boateng that 'get out of here, you are not needed.'

The point that NCC Director was sacked because he had attained the compulsory retirement age of 60 and therefore could not continue to occupy an administrative position, for him, is a moot argument.

He said there were many people way beyond that age who were serving in administrative capacities.

Prof. Akosa argued that in any case, if the minister thought that Prof. Frimpong Boateng had passed his retirement age and needed to be replaced, was the appropriate decision to sack him “with immediate effect”?

In Prof. Akosa's view, not many Ghanaians will do for Ghana what Prof. Frimpong Boateng did for the nation and so he must not be treated with such scant regard.

Story by Malik Abass Daabu/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana