Accra, Aug. 29, GNA - Staff of the Cardiothoracic Centre of the Korle-bu Teaching Hospital on Monday suspended all elective operations and clinics following the termination of appointment of its founder, Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng.

All workers at the centre are in red band in support of the Professor, the first strike at the Centre since inauguration 22 years ago.

Dr Frank Edwin, a cardio surgeon and spokesperson, said they had petitioned President John Atta Mills to revoke the decision of the Minister of Health, Mr Joseph Yeile Chireh, to terminate the appointment of Professor Frimpong-Boateng.

A letter signed by the senior staff of the Centre on August 26 said the basis of the Minister's decision was questioned by all Heads of Departments of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and also staff of the University of Ghana Medical School.

They said Prof. Frimpong-Boateng was directing the next generation of leaders at the Centre in an effort to expand the facility to manage the increased national and regional demands on the centre.

This will involved the relocation of the Centre and specialized training of staff and this had been running since the 20th anniversary of the centre in August 2009.

He said Prof. Frimpong-Boateng single-handedly established the Centre and trained most of its current staff, motivating them to stay and work locally.

"In the light of these facts the staffs of the centre consider the termination of Prof. Frimpong-Boateng's appointment as Director of the Centre as subversive of national interest and a disincentive to the patriotism of Ghanaians both locally and abroad."

"While it is conceivable that the Minister's action was based on misinformation concerning the often complex interrelationship between the workings of the Ministry of Health and the University of Ghana Medical School, the present troubled and agitated mood of the staff of the centre does not provide any safe environment for the performance of complex and delicate heart procedures on patients," Dr Edwin said.

He said it was therefore their hope that the President would take urgent steps to correct this anomaly and return the Centre to its previous efficient state.

Prof. Frimpong-Boateng returned to Ghana to practise as Ghana's first locally-based cardiothoracic surgeon and established the National Cardiothoracic Centre at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in 1992 as there were no cardiothoracic surgery facilities in the country at the time. He also runs a charitable foundation, Ghana Heart Foundation, which is responsible for paying for heart surgery for indigent Ghanaians under his care.