PRESIDENT KIKWETE COMMENDS MADAKTARI AFRICA

President Dr. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete speaks during a fundraising Gala for Madaktari Africa held in New York on Sunday evening. In his speech, the President commended the organisation's health initiatives in Tanzania saying that it has saved the lives of many Tanzanians . Madaktari Afrika is a non profit Health Organization whose goal is to break the circle of conventional dependence on outside aid organization in order to increase self sufficiency and sustainability in health service provision.

The Madaktari Africa Program was conceived in 2006 by South Carolina neurosurgeon Dilantha B. Ellegala after a trip to Haydom Lutheran Hospital in Tanzania following a cerebrovascular fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA. Currently, he is the Medical Director at Centra Neuroscience Institute in Lynchburg, VA, where he is practicing Neurosurgery. Due to his involvement with Madaktari, Dr. Ellegala serves as the Tanzania lead for the Foundation for International Education in Neurological Surgery (FIENS).

President Dr. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete in a group photo with some Madaktari Afrika senior practitioners and coordinators during a fundraising Gala held in New York on Sunday evening. Third left is Dr. Dilantha Ellegala the organization's founder, second right front row is one of the organization's Tanzania coordinator Prof. Mohamed Janabi who is also the President's personal physician. (Photos by Freddy Maro, State House).