Wednesday, June 15, 2022.
In my over two decades of medical practice in Ghana (and in the 14 years of active work in cervical cancer prevention), I have worked with many ‘bosses.’ I can group them into three categories:
- Those who are actively involved/interested in our work and support us.
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Those who are indifferent. They don’t care about what we do.
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Those who do not support what we do. Some actually oppose what we do.
It is great working with bosses who support you. The achievements can be beyond expectation. It is a different situation working with a boss who is indifferent or opposes what you do.
Whatever happens, I have learned lessons that guide me. No condition is permanent. The bosses will change one day. They may be transferred or may retire… The same will happen to me. So I do my best whoever is my boss.
I have had different Heads of Department, medical superintendents, District Directors of Health Services, Regional Directors of Health Services, Directors of Non-Communicable Diseases in the Ghana Health Service, Directors at the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG)… even Director Generals of the Ghana Health Service in the 14 active years of work in cervical cancer prevention in Ghana. All of them fall in one of the three categories mentioned. Whenever there is a change, there is an interesting feeling as we gauge the future of our programme. It usually does not take long before it is clear the category the new boss falls in.
This year we’ve had a change in the North District Director of Health Services. The Volta Regional Director of Health Services is retiring.
What do these mean for our cervical cancer prevention programme at the Cervical Cancer Prevention and Training Centre (CCPTC) in Catholic Hospital, Battor?
As I always say: Time will tell.
Soldier come, soldier go, the cervical cancer prevention vision remains.
Dr. Kofi Effah is an Obstetrician Gynaecologist and head of the Cervical Cancer Prevention and Training Centre in Catholic Hospital, Battor in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region of Ghana.
