Yayasan Lentera Papua

PO Box 385, Jl. Muai Hom-Hom

99511 Wamena
Papua, Indonesia

Proposal Philips Lumify Ultrasound Probe

Yayasan Lentera Papua

Wijnanda van Burg, MD
Yayasan Lentera Papua
PO Box 385, Jl. Muai Hom-Hom
99511 Wamena
Papua, Indonesia

Introduction
We are grateful for this opportunity to write a proposal for the Philips Lumify Ultrasound Probe to be
used in the Lentera Papua healthcare team. A few months ago, I met mrs. Dynelle Huang from Philips
in Singapore. She told me that Indonesia has certain projects in Indonesia to promote the Philips
Lumify Ultrasound probe, which can be attached to a tablet the owner already has. So, it is with that
information that I wrote this proposal for your consideration to see if our situation would fit in the
Lumify projects you have here. We write this proposal with the aim to consider if it is possible to get
a Lumify curved probe for free or for a reduced price. You may have a showroom model, that cannot
be sold as new anymore or something like that.

In this proposal we will lay out the background of the health work in the highlands of Indonesia’s
rural Papua province as well as the use of the Ultrasound Probe.

Yayasan Lentera Papua

Yayasan Lentera Papua is a foundation located in the highlands of Papua (Indonesia), operating from
Wamena. The foundation started in 2007, founded by a couple of churches and the Calvary Clinic.
The main aim of Lentera Papua is to train young Papuans to work as professionals in the area of
aviation, healthcare, education, social work, and business. The core of the programs is the aviation
program, as Lentera Papua is operation small bushplanes in collaboration with Cenderawasih Air.
Besides giving the means to train local pilots, this also provides income to the programs and gives the
means to reach out to remote villages that are only accesible through small airfields. Lentera’s
healthcare program consists of a team that aims to improve healthcare in the remote villages.
Therefore, the team collaborates with the RSU (local hospital), the Calvaray Clinic, the Dinas
Kesehatan (Health Department), other healthcare teams, and very importantly, with all air
transportation operators in the highlands of Papua. Every week there are several requests for
medical assistance from villages that can only be reached by helicopter (Helivida) or small bushplane
(MAF, Cenderawasih Air, Susi Air, Dimonim Air, AMA), and these patients have to be helped at their
village or flown out to the city hospital in Wamena.

Health situation in the highlands of Papua

The highlands of Papua consist of steep mountains with little village scattered all over. Most of these
villages are only accessible by foot or by air. That makes being pregnant and delivering a baby one of
the most life-threatening conditions among women in these villages, especially given the fact that
health infrastructure in these areas is not well run, with most of the time no health workers or
midwifes at hand.1 One of my tasks as a doctor here, is to help these women if a problem rises. Most
common obstetric problems are retained placenta and obstructed labor. Mostly a few times a week
our health team gets a call for such a situation. If that happens, I often fly along with Helivida’s
helicopters and sometimes with one of the bushplanes to help this lady in the village, so that she
does not need to be flown out to town.

Need for a reliable portable ultrasound

Although a village house is nothing compared to a well utilized hospital room, medical care needs to
be as good as in the hospital. To being able to do my work well, I am really in need of a good, reliable
and portable ultrasound machine, to make the diagnose well and give the right treatment. One of
the most important things when flying with a helicopter, is that everything is as light as possible, one
of the big advantages of the Philip Lumify Ultrasound. I currently use a relatively cheap portable
Chinese ultrasound machine, which however suffers from a low resolution and precision of the

1
For a description of the current situation in the highlands, see https://www.insideindonesia.org/dying-for-
nothing-2 and http://www.insideindonesia.org/feature-editions/unsafe-motherhood
Yayasan Lentera Papua
PO Box 385, Jl. Muai Hom-Hom
99511 Wamena
Papua, Indonesia

screen, which makes it difficult to get clear pictures and a good diagnosis. Besides that, the current
‘Chinese’ (without a brandname) machine is still quite heavy and big, making it difficult to bring on
the helicopter. Next to the primary goal of using the ultrasound machine in the remote villages for
obstetrics, we plan to use it a few days a week in a local church-run Calvary Clinic. This local clinic has
a focus on treating HIV-Aids and TB, and is planning to set up a mother-child program to prevent
transfer of the disease from mother to child. Having a reliable ultrasound machine is key to this
program, in order to give proper pregnancy supervision, especially in more complicated pregnancies.
If we would have an ultrasound machine, it would be used on a daily basis on several patients a day
(the current ‘Chinese’ ultrasound machine does not have sufficient resolution for 12- and 20 week
diagnostics).

Table 1: Intended use of the Philips Lumify Ultrasound Probe

Place Medical use Frequency Price charged to patients
Rural villages in Obstetrics 2x per week, mostly till Free
Papua, only reachable 3pm
through air transport
Calvary Clinic, Pregnancy supervision, 5x per week, after 3pm At costprice for utensils
Wamena mother-child program
(HIV-Aids transfer
prevention)

Personal background
Since 2014 I and my family live in Wamena, a town in the highlands of Papua Province Indonesia. We
are a Dutch family; my husband works as a consultant with a local NGO. I am a medical doctor
specialized in tropical medicine and hygiene (MD Erasmus University Rotterdam, Specialty training
Royal Tropical Institute Amsterdam), which is a specialty that prepares one for working in developing
countries, especially in surgery and obstetrics. Obstetrics is my field of interest and is also the field in
which I see a big need. My other task is to support the doctor, nurses and midwife in the small local
Calvary Clinic. We as a family have our income through sponsoring from our home country. That is
enough to live from and to do certain projects, but it is insufficient to cover costs of expensive
machinery like a good ultrasound machine.

Thank you for considering my request and thinking along with me in serving Papuan ladies in remote
villages.

Contact details
Wijnanda van Burg, MD
Yayasan Lentera Papua
Jl. Muai Hom-Hom, Wamena
HP: 08-1391602342
Email: wijnandaverhage@gmail.com

www.lentera-vanburg.nl (in Dutch)

https://www.facebook.com/lenterapapua
https://www.facebook.com/Klinik-Kalvari-Wamena