Ghanaians today paid their last respects to Dr Emmanuel Evans-Anfom at a state funeral at the forecourt of the State House in Accra.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, as well as the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, were in attendance to bid farewell to the national icon who was the second Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the first President of the Ghana Medical Association.

It was a solemn event with various tributes eulogising the surgeon, academic and statesman, who was born in 1919 and died this year, for all his contributions to the advancement of health care and the development of the country.

 "We appreciate him for his contribution to the development of Ghana, and he will be remembered by Ghanaians who will be inspired by his integrity and dedication to service," President Akufo-Addo said.

Other tributes

In a tribute to her husband, his surviving wife, Mrs Elise Evans-Anfom, said his love for the late statesman was not grounded in the material things he made available to the family but rather because he stayed humble even after achieving so much in life.

He said he met the late Dr Evans-Anfom in a hospital in Tamale, where he had been transferred, under great protestation because he thought Tamale was far.

“Among the many people who needed medical attention in those days in Tamale was a young returnee teacher, who having lived in the UK for four years, had lost some of her immunity to malaria, and had a very severe attack of the illness,” she said.

The children of the late statesman paid glowing tribute about their father who lived long enough to share in their adult achievements.

The eldest son of the late statesman, Nii Okai, said; “His humour remained intact and his mind sharp right to the end; days before he left us, another bosom friend of mine, knowing his weakness and regularly brought him chocolate ice cream and chocolate cake, came to visit him and when I told Daddy who had arrived to see him, there was a hint of a smile, and he said very softly, for he could hardly speak and was hardly eating then, “Ah, we have ice cream and cake in the house”.

He said in the final days of his life on earth, Dr Evans-Anfom loved going through “a large suitcase we have with pictures from the beginning of time, mostly in black and white, and he would be quick to tell you exactly what was happening then, particularly of his student days in Scotland”.

The Chief of Staff at the Office of the President, Mrs Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, and the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Alan Kyerematen, were also among the many other distinguished personalities who graced the funeral.

Achiever

Dr Evans-Anfom played many key roles in the medical field and in academia, rising to become the Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) from 1967 to 1973.

He is credited as the one who introduced matriculation at the KNUST during his tenure, an event that officially welcomes freshmen to the university and which was, subsequently emulated by other tertiary institutions.

An old student of Achimota School, Dr Evans-Anfom became a pioneer educator in the medical field, becoming a professor at the newly established University of Ghana Medical School.

In 1958, he co-founded the Ghana Medical Association with Dr Charles Odamtten Easmon and served as President of the association from 1968 to 1970.

As a medical doctor, he worked in various health facilities in the country and the West African sub-region.

Outside his professional life, Dr Evans-Anfom accepted public appointments during the governments of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council and the Provisional National Defence Council.