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Prof Afua Adwo Jectey Hesse …First Ghanaian trained female Paediatric Surgoen opens up on impactful career
Prof Afua Adwo Jectey Hesse, delivering an address
Working as a Paediatric Surgeon was God’s plan for my life because l was told by my parents that at the age of four, l had indicated l would become a paediatric surgeon. It is so surprising that l knew nothing about it so l inferred that it was God who had directed my thoughts.”
These are the words of a genius and no wonder Prof Afua Adwo Jeckey Hesse became the first in all her fields of endeavour.
She is the first Ghanaian trained female Paediatric Surgeon, the first female to head the Department of Surgery at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and the first female to head the Paediatric Surgery Department at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
She is also the first female to work as the Director of Medical Affairs, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, and the first female to Act as the Chief Executive Officer at the hospital.
She is presently the President of Accra College of Medicine (ACM).
EDUCATION
Prof Afua Adwo Ajectey- Hesse who turns 70 this year was born in Kumasi to Prof Kwadwo Asare Jectey Nyarko and Mrs Agnes Jectey Nyarko of blessed memory.
Her father was a lecturer in Geography at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi while her mother taught at the Basic School in the same university.
When her father had the opportunity to study for his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in France, he took the family along because he wanted his children to get the necessary exposure to the outside world.
After the completion of the course, the family returned to Ghana. She enrolled at the Wesley Girls’ High School and sat for the Ordinary Level and later completed the Advanced Level certificate in 1969.
She entered the University of Ghana Medical School and graduated in Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) in 1976. She did her house job at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
While working as a Demonstrator in Anatomy at the Anatomy Department, University of Ghana Medical School, she wrote the primary examination and later gained admission to do her Postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Surgeons in the United Kingdom.
She later read Management Studies at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) and the School of Management in London.
WORK ABROAD
She got married to Prof Adukwei I.F. Hesse in 1978 and when her husband went to Birmingham in the United Kingdom to study for his postgraduate programme in Physiology, she joined him with their two sons.
While lecturing in Birmingham as a Senior House Officer, within three years, she had sat for the Fellowship Examination at the Royal College of Surgeons in Birmingham.
Prof Jectey Hesse worked as a Clinical Fellow in Paediatric Surgeon. She again worked as Clinical Fellow in Clinical Surgery and Paediatric Surgery in the Bristol Royal Hospital.
In 1998, she and the husband returned to Ghana with their four children and applied to the University of Ghana to lecture. Her husband was employed in the Department of Medicine ( Internal Medicine), and taught Physiology also, while she worked in the Paediatric Surgery Department at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
Coincidentally, the Head of Paediatric Surgery Department who was her tutor, left unceremoniously and the mantle fell on her to head the department.
EXPERIENCE
She said it was an arduous task working continuously as a paediatric surgeon with no time to rest. Later, she had to recruit more doctors and nurses to assist her in the department and ensured that the staff were exposed to some of the best practices outside the country.
She said she had never wavered going through all the disciplines in medicine.
“In paediatric surgery, a child comes to the hospital with a problem and when you operate on the child or you correct the problem, the next day the child is ready to go and play football. In this situation, the anxious parents would like to find out whether the child should be allowed to play or not,” she said.
Prof Jectey Hesse explained that there was no regret working as a Paediatric Surgeon because she attached professionalism to her work and the relief given to parents and their sick children had provided her a lot of satisfaction. Additionally, working with her hands to see a little child get better was a wonderful activity which she took delight in.
Though on retirement, she is a part-time lecturer at the University of Ghana Medical School and still has so much to pass on to the younger generation as long as God gives her the strength to do what she loved doing best.
CHALLENGES
She explained that the Paediatric Surgery Department took care of newborn babies up to 13 years.
She said the challenges in the department included the clinical condition the patient was identified with, you could diagnose the condition and prescribe medication for the patient, but the parents could not purchase the medicine, and having completed a nice job, the post-operative management of the case could be problematic because the parents could not provide the needed items.
Prof Jectey Hesse intimated that there were occasions she had to use her money in support of needy children on admission in the hospital, and this situation had occasioned the establishment of a Special Fund in the department in support of needy children.
ACCRA COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
When asked what motivated the family to establish the Accra College of Medicine, she said one of her sons had expressed concern that there were many students who had applied to the medical schools in Ghana with good grades but could not gain admission to the public medical schools because of the cut-off point, so he asked why couldn’t the family establish a school to cater for some of these students.
She said the family decided to manage the academic part of the university while other stakeholders provide the financial part. That was the vision to get stakeholders who would provide the needed funds for this laudable project, hence the coming into being of the Accra College of Medicine.
“By the grace of God, the school has graduated 28 medical doctors from three batches. The main thing is about their work ethics and high character,” she said.
GRATITUDE
According to her, some of her former students were grateful for the opportunity granted them to study medicine to become doctors. They said this would not have been possible without the establishment of ACM.
Prof Jectey Hesse is a Christian whose hobbies include, reading, cooking, baking, playing the piano at her leisure and she loves singing.
She loves Ghanaian foods and cooks perfectly well without the use of additives.
She urged Ghanaians to desist from telling lies and “do what they would like to do if nobody was watching them.”
By Raymond Kyekye
The professor who spends his days exploring the intricacies of African languages found himself at the centre of a different kind of lesson on Friday, October 2, 2026. 
This time, there were no lecture notes, academic arguments or university classrooms. Instead, there was the weight of tradition, the rhythm of a community celebration and the solemnity of an oath at a royal palace.
Professor Ọbádélé Kambon, a full Professor of African Linguistics at the University of Ghana, was enstooled as Apagyahene and Sunsum Ɔsahene of Akuapem Mampong in the Eastern Region in a ceremony that brought academia and traditional authority together.
For the professor, the occasion was more than a new title. It was a moment that connected his academic interests in African languages and indigenous knowledge with the living traditions of an Akan community.
The day’s events unfolded through a series of customary observances. Kambon was first taken to the compounds of the Ɔkyeamehene and Gyasehene, where the preparations for his installation continued.
Then came the application of hyire, the white kaolin powder associated with traditional rites.
With the customary proceedings underway, the new chief was lifted onto the shoulders of celebrants and carried along the main thoroughfare of Akuapem Mampong.
The procession transformed the streets into a public stage for a ceremony rooted in the community’s traditional institutions.
There was something striking about the image, a university professor, accustomed to the measured language of academic discourse, being carried through the town in a display of traditional recognition.
Yet the celebration was not complete with the procession.
A ram was sacrificed at the Mamponghene’s compound before Kambon was taken to the palace, to swear the oath associated with his new offices.
The ceremony brought him formally into his roles as Apagyahene and Sunsum Ɔsahene.
Beyond the colourful proceedings, the titles themselves carry layers of historical meaning.
Kambon in his research explores the historical connections between Apagya and Akan political and military organisation.
Accounts cited in his work linked Apagya to an asafo, or military company, while historical writing traces an Apagya stool in Asante to the reign of Opoku Ware I in the eighteenth century.
These historical associations offer a glimpse into the institutions that have shaped Akan society over generations, although they do not automatically define the precise responsibilities of the office in Akuapem Mampong.
Kambon’s own professional life reflects a similar interest in preserving and examining African knowledge.
His work encompasses Akan language structure, naming practices across the Black world, proverbs and indigenous intellectual traditions.
Through Abibitumi, the platform he founded, he also promotes language learning, scholarship and cultural engagement.
But tradition was only one part of the story that day.
When the formal ceremony gave way to a reception, the occasion expanded into a celebration of three milestones: Kambon’s enstoolment, his promotion to full professor and his daughter Ama’s admission to the University of Ghana.
The gathering therefore carried a personal significance that went beyond the honours bestowed on one man. 
It celebrated professional advancement, the continuation of family aspirations and a connection to cultural heritage.
For a father, seeing a daughter gain admission to the same university where he holds a distinguished academic position offered another reason to celebrate.
For the professor, the moment placed family achievement alongside his own professional and traditional milestones.
Kambon had already established a place in the traditional life of Akuapem Mampɔn through an earlier installation as Banmuhene Kyidɔmhene, recorded in 2017.
His latest enstoolment adds another chapter to that relationship.
In Akuapem Mampɔn, the day brought together the university, the palace and the family table in one celebration. And for Kambon, the journey from the lecture room to the traditional procession showed how scholarship, cultural responsibility and family achievement could converge in a single memorable occasion.
By Enoch Ntiamoah Siaw
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Intercity STC Coaches Limited has interdicted a driver captured in a viral video allegedly hitting a Sprinter bus during an overtaking manoeuvre at Pokuase before driving away from the scene.
In a public notice, the company described the driver’s conduct as unacceptable, stressing that it did not reflect the safety standards and professionalism it upholds.
Management said it had commenced an immediate investigation into the incident and identified the driver, who has been interdicted pending the outcome of the disciplinary process.
The company added that it was awaiting an official report from the Pokuase Police Command to help establish the facts surrounding the incident.
STC reaffirmed its commitment to passenger safety and responsible road use, while thanking members of the public for bringing the incident to its attention.
Management assured the public that appropriate action would be taken following the investigation.
By: Jacob Aggrey
