In Latin, the word for doctor isn’t healer—it’s teacher.
Dilan Ellegala, an accomplished American neurosurgeon, had reached the highest rungs of the American medical establishment but was on the verge of burning out. In search of personal restoration, he risked his career to take a sabbatical at a remote missionary hospital in Haydon, Tanzania.
He discovered a medical world entirely different from the one he knew. Tanzania has just two doctors for every 100,000 people and three neurosurgeons in a country with a population of 43 million—a lack of access to health care that is so extreme, it’s difficult to imagine. After meeting Emmanuel Mayegga, an assistant medical officer who grew up in a tiny mud hut, Dilan realized that Mayegga had the dexterity, intelligence and confidence to be a great surgeon, despite his lack of formal education. Dilan began training him to perform brain surgery procedures, giving him the tools to become an agent of change in his own country.
Today, what began as one doctor teaching another has become the NGO Madaktari (Swahili for “doctors”) that has grown into a group that sends hundreds of doctors around the world to serve as mentors and to create a sustainable new model for global health based on Dilan’s “train-forward” philosophy. Send Forth the Healing Sun is the incredible and inspiring story of one man’s pioneering journey that is changing medicine and making a difference around the world.
Dilan Ellegala, an accomplished American neurosurgeon, had reached the highest rungs of the medical establishment but was on the verge of burning out. In search of personal restoration, he risked his career to take a sabbatical at a remote missionary hospital in Haydom, Tanzania. There, he discovered a medical world entirely different from the one he knew. Tanzania had just three brain surgeons for a population of 43 million. People with head injuries and brain diseases typically healed on their own, lived with a disability, or died. After meeting assistant medical officer Emmanuel Mayegga, Dilan recognized the man’s potential to be a great surgeon—despite not having a medical degree. Dilan began training Mayegga to perform brain surgery procedures, giving him the tools to become an agent of change in his own country and also train other doctors.
What began as one person teaching another has evolved into a movement to solve one of the world’s most neglected and pressing health problems: the global shortage of surgeons. Five billion people have no access to safe and affordable surgery, and 17 million people die every year because of this gap. That’s more than the number of deaths caused by malaria, tuberculosis, and AIDS combined. Send Forth the Healing Sun is the incredible and inspiring story of a movement that is making a difference around the world.
