Cardio Staff Want Prof. Frimpong Boateng Back

A section of cardiothoracic staff of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and patients of cardio say they want Prof. Frimpong Boateng back at the Cardio Centre. Some of them say the absence of Prof. Boateng has created a vacuum at the Centre. A senior nursing staff could not hide her disgust over what she described as the preposterous political decision against her former boss. �Let me tell you, I still feel the absence of Prof. This is a man who was so dedicated, committed, focused and determined to achieve his ambition and he made sure you went along with him or stood aside. �People say, Prof. is difficult, unfriendly, uncompromising and unyielding. I don�t find him that way; he is only principled and hardworking. If you are lazy, untruthful, derelict and lukewarm, the Prof won�t like you because he works like a camel.� She said even though at the moment, the centre has 16 qualified surgeons led by Dr. Serebour, they still felt Prof. Boateng�s absence because they saw him as the Godfather of the centre. In her opinion, no learner could be greater than his or her teacher. �People don�t know that Prof. is a down-to-earth man. When you litter your office, he would come and pick the rubbish to show example that you did not have to do that. When we went to theater and you were in a difficulty, he would stop whatever he was doing and come to your aid immediately. He won�t shout at you at all.� Another worker told this paper that even though they had everything under control, they still felt the Prof�s absence because he wielded some amount of symbolism, authority, respect and spirit of the Centre. He said the decision by government was ill-timed, ill-conceived and ill-motivated. �What position did government want Prof. to assume at the Centre when he had used his own money, resources, time energy and contacts to put up the place?� he asked. He added, �We still call on him on knotty issues even after his dismissal and he still responds to us on phone. We wish he would be appointed as our consultant because we cannot afford to lose him entirely.� Another patient said, �My brother this can never be done in any advanced, forward-looking country in the world. We should not make a mistake to let another country or organization poach him to our detriment. This is a scarce human resource that we cannot easily substitute or replace; no matter what,� she decried. She contended that Prof. Boateng brought so much transformation, recognition, respect, symbolism and distinction to the Cardio Centre, Korle-Bu Teaching hospital and Ghana as a whole. �Politics has torn this country apart,� said another patient. �What conditions of Service clause did Prof. break by contesting for the flagbearership of a party? And if the Prof. has turned Korle-Bu around, what shows that he can�t turn Ghana around?