Renowned Physician and Rector of the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons, Professor Jacob Plange-Rhule, has been reported dead.

Prof. Plange-Rhule is said to have died at the University of Ghana Medical Centre on Friday morning where he had been receiving treatment for an undisclosed ailment.

“I was told he died this morning but I don’t know what sickness he suffered before his death,” the former Vice President of the Ghana Medical Association, Dr. Sodzi Sodzi-Tettey told Myjoyonline.com.

News about the professor’s demise has set social media talking, with many of his associates as well as former students, taking to Facebook to share memories of him.

Prof. Plange-Rhule had his undergraduate medical training at the School of Medical Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

He then obtained a PhD in Renal Physiology from the Victorian University of Manchester, UK. Following that, he undertook his residency training in Internal Medicine. 

He was a Fellow of the West Africa College of Physicians; Fellow of the Ghana College of Physicians and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, London.

Until recently Prof Plange-Rhule was the Head of the Department of Physiology at the School of Medical Sciences in Kumasi and a Consultant Physician in the Department of Medicine, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).

He started the KATH Hypertension and Renal Clinic and oversaw its operations for 20 years.

Prof Plange-Rhule was also the Head of Nephrology Services at KATH prior to taking up the position of Rector at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Accra. 

Dr. Plange Rhule helped train and educate Ghanaian doctors for more than two decades. 

He was an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the Department of Renal Medicine and Transplantation, St George’s, University of London.

He was a Deputy Director of the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research (KCCR) of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, and former President of the Ghana Medical Association.

Prof Plange-Rhule was also the president of the Ghana Kidney Association.

Professor Plange-Rhule had extensive experience in research, particularly, among populations of African origin, in the fields of hypertension, cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular disease epidemiology.

He engaged in several internationally-funded research projects and published extensively in these areas.