~ The Pioneers ~
Dr. William Benjamin Quartey-Papafio
William Benjamin Quartey-Papafio was the first Ghanaian to qualify as a medical doctor. And the first Ghanaian to practice medicine on Ghanaian soil.
He was born in 1859 to Chief William Quartey-Papafio (Nii Kwatei-Kojo) and Momo Omedru, an Accra businesswoman who hailed from Akuapem Amanokrom.
After attending a preparatory mission school he enrolled at Fourah Bay Collegein Freetown, Sierra Leone. Upon completion he proceeded to earn a bachelor's degree at Durham University in the UK. In 1882 he started his medical education at Edinburgh University medical school, the very institution which in later years will produce Ghana's first woman doctor, Susan Ofori Atta. Dr. Quartey-Papafio obtained his medical degree in 1886. In the same year he earned the distinction of becoming a member of the Royal College of Surgeons.
He returned to the Gold Coast and worked as a government medical officer from 1888 until 1905. He subsequently established a private medical practice in Accra.
Dr. William Benjamin Quartey-Papafio passed away in 1924. His exemplary life has served as a beacon of hope and inspiration for subsequent generations of young Ghanaians.
In March 2021 a giant of Ghana’s medical professional story Doctor Jacob Benjamin Quartey-Papafio, (BSc Anatomy, MBChB BAO, MD, FRCS Ed) died. All too often legends have passed from our lives and are forgotten or only remembered and recognised in dry textbooks.
It was essential to his widow Mrs Kate Quartey-Papafio and family that the name of Doctor Jacob Benjamin Quartey-Papafio continue to inspire and even energise the current generation of upcoming generations of doctors and surgeons. This April 9th the memorial takes place for the man known as ‘Prof’ to those who knew him and a soft launch of the Jacob Benjamin Quartey-Papafio Memorial Medical Foundation (QPMF).
Prof wasn't the first of his kind and that is part of the QPMF story. Prof’s grandfather Dr William Benjamin Quartey-Papafio pioneered in 1800s Accra what is now standard medicine in Ghana. Like his ancestor, Prof played a key role pioneering developments and trends in ‘Gastrointestinal Endoscopy’, ‘Cross Natural Development’, ‘Blood Immunity’, ‘Breast Cancer’, ‘Tropical Diseases’ and even played a key role in establishment of ‘Plastic Surgery Unit'.
The Jacob Benjamin Quartey-Papafio Memorial Medical Foundation is to inspire and even energise the current generation in what is now known as conventional medicine.
The QPMF will supply support for potential doctors and surgeries in the form of monetary and educational leadership and technical
