Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng
Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, a prominent Ghanaian physician and cardiac surgeon, spoke about the challenges he faced at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Ghana’s premier hospital, upon his return from Germany to establish the Ghanaian Cardiothoracic Center. .
As a developing country with a tough healthcare system, the arrival of the country’s first cardiothoracic surgeon, who not only practices but actively promotes better cardiac care, leaves no doubt that he will have all the support he needs. I would have thought about it.
However, on Joy News on Friday, April 5, 2024, Professor Frimpong Boateng revealed the challenges faced at Korle Bu, including sabotage by some doctors.
“For example… we shouldn’t be given wards. When I first came, there were no wards to admit patients. That’s why I decided to build a ward.” [a Cardiothoracic Centre]. I didn’t have an operating room. I had no one to help me. There wasn’t even a doctor to help me.
“For the first few years, I was alone, drawing blood from patients, taking them to the lab, and running all the errands that a housemaster had to do. All these things I did. But people were just trying to make sure things were being done, and it got tough and they couldn’t get by,” he said.
At some point, he said, some doctors decided to make sure some patients died and to make sure they were responsible for their deaths.
Professor Frimpong Boateng says some patients were saved from a plan to tamper with machines in intensive care units thanks to anesthesiologists who revealed the plan. This could have resulted in deaths, for which he would be unfairly blamed.
“Someone even suggested to the head of anesthesiology that he should go into the intensive care unit and tamper with the equipment so that when the patient is attached to it, he dies. That would give me credibility. It will be gone,” he revealed.
The doctor added that the doctor withdrew the plan because the director of anesthesiology requested that the plan be submitted in writing.
“So the chief of anesthesiology told him to put it down on paper…of course he wouldn’t do that. [head of anaesthesia] He came up to me and said, “Kwabena, be careful.” And of course, what that person (the doctor) did after that told me that I needed to be very careful,” he said.
Professor Frimpong Boateng completed his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) degree at the University of Ghana Faculty of Medicine in 1975 before moving to Germany for further training in cardiothoracic surgery in Hannover, where he obtained his specialization. Did. .
He returned to Ghana at the age of 39 and worked for several years as the country’s first and only cardiothoracic surgeon, establishing himself as a pioneer in the field.
He performed a number of successful heart surgeries, including open heart surgeries, and contributed greatly to the Ghanaian healthcare system.
His expertise in cardiothoracic surgery has earned him national and international recognition.
Almost 35 years after leading the establishment of the National Cardiothoracic Center, Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng has lamented its current state and lack of efforts to improve it.
In August 2011, the renowned surgeon was dismissed as director of the Korlev Cardiothoracic Center, a move criticized by many as unfair by the then government.
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