Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor
The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) and a host of others have joined a long list of personalities and organizations to pay tribute to Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor who turned 80 today.
His 80th milestone is being marked today at his residence in Accra under Covid-19 protocols and guest restrictions although many would have loved to grace the occasion with him.
The tribute to him by the GMA is one of the many that stood out. The GMA President, Dr. Frank Ankobia, recalled the outstanding services of the Physician Specialist who, as he put it, “was a part-time lecturer at the Medical School of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, while he worked at Kufuor Clinic, Kumasi.”
“Aside from the quality lecture he gave at KNUST, he supported Korle Bu Teaching Hospital as a Member of the University of Ghana Medical School Council and Inspector of Examinations for the final year Bachelor of Medicine students.
“He was appointed by the Medical and Dental Council as a member of the board of examiners for foreign trained doctors applying to work in Ghana,” he recounted.
For the outstanding services, Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor, younger brother of former President John Agyekum Kufuor, neither took salary nor allowances during the period.
His election in 1992 to serve as the President of the GMA for three years as the 13th President to hold the position occasioned in his conferment of the highest honour of the GMA, Fellow of the GMA.
As Defence Minister in 2003, he commissioned the GMA building at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
The GMA tribute did not ignore Dr. Addo Kufuor’s attraction of a Gold medal for his distinguished medical practice by the Ghana Medical and Dental Council and his later award of the Order of the Volta (Companion).
The GMA added, “Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor, as you celebrate your 80th Birthday, the Ghana Medical Association wishes you good health and long life. God bless you now and always as you continue to serve the medical fraternity and the nation at large.”
As Defence Minister he attracted a glowing tribute from the then Chief of the Defence Staff, Lt. Gen. Joseph Boateng Danquah, for his footprints in the development of the Ghana Armed Forces.
His foresight led to the construction of the Burma Hall Complex, a legacy of an ICT Centre of Excellence and the refurbishment of the 37 Military Hospital that has assumed the status of a teaching hospital.
“In times of darkness you were a beacon of light; in times of uncertainties you were a shoulder to lean upon; in times of joy you beamed hope and encouragement for greater things to come. Your interactive durbars were some of the hallmarks of your administration, the then CDS,” it read.
Dr. Addo-Kufuor has composed a memoir – Gold Coast Boy.
By A.R. Gomda