An Encounter With Prof. Oheneba Boachie Adjei

The Moment Of Truth: An Encounter With Prof. Oheneba Boachie Adjei, The Best Orthopedic Spine Surgion

Some people are born great and others achieve greatness through perseverance, and devotion to certain beliefs and ideas. Prof. Oheneba Boachie Adjei, a Ghanaian, and the most renowned surgeon in Orthopaedic Medicine is either born great or a hybrid of the two distinctive qualities. If you are privileged to interface with him, you would have seen such an amazing human being full of humility and love; if he had helped you or your love one as a patient, you would have appreciated God’s gift to mankind. Take time, research and read about him, and you will appreciate his unique talent and extraordinary qualities, one of a kind among many.

I first heard about Dr Oheneba Boachie Adjei on Discovery Channel in U.S. where his unique qualities and capabilities were unveiled as the master in resolving complex spine deformities. I got to know more about him when my ailing sister who had a serious spine problem visited me in the United States of America. She could not walk properly and needed assistance with her basic needs. Simply put, she was like a baby and almost paralyzed. Upon consultation with my family, we realized that it was going to cost over $60,000.00 to embark on a surgical procedure to reverse that anomaly since she had no Health Insurance. The issue was not the money but where to locate an expert who regularly performs this kind of operation since any little mistake will impair her movements for life. Trust me, even in the United States of America, there are few with the requisites to handle this kind of cases.

God being so good to us, we got in touch with this amazing gentleman who could not promised us assistance in view of the numerous pending cases in Ghana but offered to help if possible. Prof. Boachie Adjei is a disciplined and professional person, who believe in fundamental fairness and that, although, my sister’s ailment was getting worse, he believed in the first come first served philosophy. As promised, my sister was the last person to be operated upon when Dr Oheneba Boachie Adjei and his team came to Ghana. My untold story is the fateful day of surgery where my sister’s MRI mysteriously got missing-it could not be located within the confines of Korla Bu Teaching Hospital. This was the moment of truth, how can they (he and his team) undertake this delicate surgery on an unprepared patient? Lo and behold, they went ahead on this perilous undertaking to accomplish this monumental task defining all odds and logic to the amazement of everybody. Such is the mark of efficient display of excellence in the art of spine surgery. My sincere thanks,Pro. Oheneba Boachie Adjei.

Prof., through his own ingenuity and the assistance of his wife has developed an NGO in the name of FOCUS, to assist the poor and needy. Their charges are very moderate compared to other outrageous charges in many advance countries. People from all walk of life troop here for services at affordable fees, a cure which does not exist in our part of the world. It is therefore not strange to see citizens of the United States of America, Spain etc come here for surgery because of its affordability.

Ghana has men and women of substance, people who are extraordinarily detailed in their area of expertise and among them are Prof. Frimpong Boateng and Prof Oheneba Boachie Adjei, proud sons of our dear nation Ghana. God in His mercy and love did not only give us natural resources but talents, human capacity. We are at this precarious situation because of our own behavior, one of greed, tribalism, vindictiveness, nepotism and corruption. Why is it that our citizen perform miracles in other countries and can do ‘shit’ in our own nation? It all emanates from tribal politics and bad management of our nation.

Yesterday, our nation looked on as we disgraced Prof. Frimpong Boateng, a world renowned Heart surgeon who has devoted his life to saving lives of many Ghanaians who do not have the luxury of seeking medical care in South Africa and other advance countries. He sacrificed his life and fortunes for our nation only to be ridiculed, debased and mocked for political reasons. Is that the prize one pays for showing love and concern for our ailing country? Are we going to treat Prof. Oheneba Boachie Adjei in a similar mode as meted to Prof.Frimpong Boateng ? What legacy are we leaving for our children, our young Doctors, Engineers, and Nurses? Etc. We have no shame and cannot even think deeply beyond our noises to read meaning into our actions which explains why we live in poverty in the midst of plenty.

America works because they adore talents and honor their heroes which are the opposite in Ghana. Two years ago, I saw Brig.Gen. Arnold Quainoo in a queue at Registrar General Dept, I stepped out and notified the security agent to accord the General the due respect and he responded to my amazement, ‘other people will complain’. I went bananas and said, ‘to hell, just do it and his responded”. Although, others around appreciated my directive, I realized that our nation was fast losing our moral fiber.

Ghana has a lot of resources, both human and material. This Government philosophy of “jobs for the boys”; the hideous policy of tribalism and nepotism, which have resulted in the systematic and inexplicable exclusion of numerous highly competent Ghanaians expects whose God given talents have been demonstrated in numerous field of endeavor making input to ensure the success of key national development programs must be watch. Why do we talk about brain-drain when we despise our own based the politics of tribalism and nepotism? We need the cream of Ghanaians to propel the engine of our nation’s development by first re-defining logic and common sense in our way of life. We cannot as a nation do the same things every time and expect different result. I pray that the good Lord in His own mercy grant us wisdom and humility to see the our end of our life.

ERIC EDUSEI, A-ONE REALTY, VA U.S.A. eric123946@yahoo.com