An inspiring story of doctors who changed the health care of an African nation

By 2006, Dilan Ellegala, an accomplished neurosurgeon, had reached the highest rungs of the American medical establishment. But he was on the verge of burning out. In search of personal restoration, he took a sabbatical at a remote missionary hospital in Haydom, Tanzania. While there, he discovered a medical world entirely different from the one he knew: Tanzania had just three neurosurgeons in a country with a population of 43 million.

During his stay, he met Emmanuel Mayegga, an assistant medical officer. Though Mayegga had no medical degree, Ellegala realized that Mayegga had the dexterity, intelligence, and confidence to be a great surgeon. Dr. Ellegala began training Mayegga to perform brain-surgery procedures, giving him the tools to become an agent of change in his own country. In his turn, Mayegga trained another young health-care worker, Emanuel Nuwas, to save lives with neurosurgical procedures. Nuwas himself would go on to train Hayte Samo.

Since that first trip, Dr. Ellegala has solidified his “train-forward” philosophy into the NGO Madaktari (Swahili for “doctors”)—a group that sends hundreds of doctors around the world to serve as mentors and to create a sustainable new model for global health. Dilan’s story exposes a major and largely neglected global-health issue—the shortage of surgeons. As many as 17 million people die every year because of this gap, more than die from AIDS, malaria, and TB combined.

An inspiring story of doctors who changed the health care of an African nation

By 2006, Dilan Ellegala, an accomplished neurosurgeon, had reached the highest rungs of the American medical establishment. But he was on the verge of burning out. In search of personal restoration, he took a sabbatical at a remote missionary hospital in Haydom, Tanzania. While there, he discovered a medical world entirely different from the one he knew: Tanzania had just three neurosurgeons in a country with a population of 43 million.

During his stay, he met Emmanuel Mayegga, an assistant medical officer. Though Mayegga had no medical degree, Ellegala realized that Mayegga had the dexterity, intelligence, and confidence to be a great surgeon. Dr. Ellegala began training Mayegga to perform brain-surgery procedures, giving him the tools to become an agent of change in his own country. In his turn, Mayegga trained another young health-care worker, Emanuel Nuwas, to save lives with neurosurgical procedures. Nuwas himself would go on to train Hayte Samo.

Since that first trip, Dr. Ellegala has solidified his “train-forward” philosophy into the NGO Madaktari (Swahili for “doctors”)—a group that sends hundreds of doctors around the world to serve as mentors and to create a sustainable new model for global health. Dilan’s story exposes a major and largely neglected global-health issue—the shortage of surgeons. As many as 17 million people die every year because of this gap, more than die from AIDS, malaria, and TB combined.

An inspiring story of doctors who changed the health care of an African nation

By 2006, Dilan Ellegala, an accomplished neurosurgeon, had reached the highest rungs of the American medical establishment. But he was on the verge of burning out. In search of personal restoration, he took a sabbatical at a remote missionary hospital in Haydom, Tanzania. While there, he discovered a medical world entirely different from the one he knew: Tanzania had just three neurosurgeons in a country with a population of 43 million.

During his stay, he met Emmanuel Mayegga, an assistant medical officer. Though Mayegga had no medical degree, Ellegala realized that Mayegga had the dexterity, intelligence, and confidence to be a great surgeon. Dr. Ellegala began training Mayegga to perform brain-surgery procedures, giving him the tools to become an agent of change in his own country. In his turn, Mayegga trained another young health-care worker, Emanuel Nuwas, to save lives with neurosurgical procedures. Nuwas himself would go on to train Hayte Samo.

Since that first trip, Dr. Ellegala has solidified his “train-forward” philosophy into the NGO Madaktari (Swahili for “doctors”)—a group that sends hundreds of doctors around the world to serve as mentors and to create a sustainable new model for global health. Dilan’s story exposes a major and largely neglected global-health issue—the shortage of surgeons. As many as 17 million people die every year because of this gap, more than die from AIDS, malaria, and TB combined.