HOME CALLING: The Doctor Who Left Europe to Build His Dream in Ghana

In an age when many young doctors aspire to travel abroad in search of better opportunities, higher salaries and more advanced medical facilities, Prof. Edmund Delle took a different path.

After spending about a decade in Europe, where he received medical training and built a promising career, he returned to Ghana with a decision that would shape the rest of his professional life: he wanted to build something of his own at home.

It was not necessarily the easiest choice. His mentor, Professor Rabito, had invested in his development and, according to Delle, had plans for him to take over his position. Yet the Ghanaian doctor had made a promise to return.

“I promised him that I’ll return to Ghana, no matter how palatable it is to stay outside,” Prof. Delle recalled in an interview with broadcaster Kafui Dey.

That decision brought him back to a country where he would have to turn his professional training into a working medical practice, beginning with far less than he might have hoped for.

There was no fully equipped clinic waiting for him. As he waited for his belongings to arrive from Italy, he refused to sit idle. Instead, he asked someone to go to Makola Market and buy him two basic items: a table and a chair.

“I can’t just come and sit down and wait for these things,” he recalled.

With those humble beginnings, Prof. Delle set about building the practice that would become Rabito Clinic.