Uganda Blog

Meera Gopalakrishnan

Program Management & Operations, Philips' Ultrasound/Imaging the World partnership

Want to know "first hand" the kind of progress Philips and its partners aremaking on the ground in Africa to help mothers and their babies live healthy, happy lives? Meera Gopalakrishnan, who directs Program Management & Operations for Philips' Ultrasound/Imaging the World partnership, is traveling around Africa hearing directly from our partners in the field.

Follow her as she explores the challenges, the possible solutions and successes creating the future of healthcare.

Read the story of Meera’s trip

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The Road to Nawanyago

Our first stop is our pilot site, Nawanyago, where the ITW program took root. The program was started in 2009 and has grown by leaps and bounds. At Nawanyago, we met with Sister Angela, the heart and soul of the clinic. Sister Angela is a bundle of energy, exudes compassion and has such an amazing, positive attitude. As she runs from patient to patient, scanning them, counselling, guiding them on their care plan, I am struck by how much she has been able to accomplish with such limited resources. And she does it all with a smile.

Kasambya

Kasambya is a small town within Mubende district. It is, however, a milestone for the program because ITW was able to gain direct support from the Ministry of Health to allow, for the first time, a fee-for-service model to finance the presence of ultrasound at public clinic sites. The nominal fee of about $2 was found to be affordable and is critical to the sustainability of the program. At the Kasambya HCIII, we met with Hakim, who is the on-site program coordinator as well as primary sonographer at the clinic.

Leaving on a jet plane…

Today is our last day in Uganda. We were at dinner with the entire team at a restaurant overlooking lake Victoria, singing along to “leaving on a jet plane”, when it hit me……I will miss this place and all the people I’ve had the opportunity to meet. It’s strange how a place I was apprehensive about visiting a week ago; I now feel a connection to. Maybe it was the genuine warmth that people have in them, maybe it’s the can-do attitude despite the hardships, maybe it’s just walking a mile with people in need… I really can’t explain it. I am very grateful to Dr. DeStigter and ITW for inviting me on this trip and to the ITW-Africa team for the hospitality that was afforded to me.

Learn more about our partnership with

Imaging the World.

Seeing patients and providers

experience care first hand

Meera Gopalakrishnan