Health
In 1949, while representing Achimota School in athletics, a simple training exercise turned into a painful experience that would stay with him for life
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Before Bernhardt Ago Sowa Kuma became known for his contributions to medicine, he was a young student at Achimota School with a passion for athletics and a determination to excel.
In 1949, while representing Achimota School in athletics, a simple training exercise turned into a painful experience that would stay with him for life.
He was practising pole vaulting when everything went wrong.
“I was practising pole vaulting and I slipped,” Professor Kuma recalled in an interview with Kafui Dey.
As he fell, instinctively trying to protect himself, he stretched out his left arm.
“I was coming with my head. I stretched my left arm, got up and it was broken.”
The injury was serious. His mother quickly took him from their home in La to Korle Bu, hoping he would receive immediate medical attention. But the treatment he needed did not happen as quickly as expected.
Within an hour, they had arrived at the hospital. Yet, the broken wrist remained untreated for days.
“This was on a Monday, 4th January 1940,” he said, recalling the painful wait. “It wasn’t done until Thursday.”
For a young athlete, the pain was unavoidable.
“Wasn’t there a lot of pain?” Kafui Dey asked.
“Of course there was,” Professor Kuma replied.
At the time, medical care was not as easily accessible as it is today. Patients were often required to pay fees for treatment, but his status as a student at Achimota School made a difference.
“There was an English man who was a surgeon,” he recalled.
Because he was a secondary school student, he received treatment without charge.
“I think because I was in secondary school in Achimota for that matter, I wasn’t charged fees,” he explained.
His wrist was eventually treated and placed in a cast, allowing the young student to recover.
Years later, Professor Kuma would become one of Ghana’s pioneering medical figures, dedicating his life to the same field that once cared for him during a moment of vulnerability.
His journey began not only in classrooms and laboratories, but also in the experience of being a patient.
For Professor Kuma, medicine was not only a career. It was a calling shaped by experiences that began long before he ever wore a doctor’s coat.
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