Cassona Global Imaging Limited’s impact in health delivery

In the heart of Sub-Saharan Africa, where healthcare challenges are deeply entrenched and systemic, a quiet but powerful revolution is taking root—one that blends compassion, innovation, and resilience. At the center of this transformation is Cassona Global Imaging Limited, a company driven not just by commerce, but by a deeply personal mission to make healthcare more accessible, affordable, and sustainable across Africa.

In a small, quiet home in Ghana, a family once mourned the loss of a mother—taken too soon by a disease that could have been treated, if only the diagnosis had come earlier. For John and Leni Chigbu, that loss was more than personal. It became a turning point. The passing of John’s mother during the COVID era was not just a tragedy for their family, it was a wake-up call about the fragile state of healthcare in many parts of Africa.

Out of that pain, a new purpose was born.

Cassona Global Imaging Limited is not your typical medical equipment company. Yes, it supplies advanced imaging machines like MRI and CT scanners, mammogram units, X-ray systems and ultrasound devices. But the company’s heartbeat lies not in the machines it provides but in the lives it seeks to improve, the young professionals it mentors, and the health systems it is helping to rebuild from within.

Cassona was first established in the United States in 2013 as a finance consultancy focused on international trade. But after the Chigbus experienced the devastating impact of delayed diagnosis firsthand, they redirected their mission toward something much more personal, bringing life-saving medical technology and talent development to Ghana and across the sub-Saharan African region.

Today, Cassona Global Imaging stands as a symbol of hope, resilience and possibility in a region where many still struggle to access basic diagnostic care.

Bringing the best home

Every year, thousands of brilliant African students leave their home countries to study medicine abroad. They go to places like China, Ukraine, Russia and the United Kingdom. Some return, but many never do. The dreams that took them abroad often fade under the weight of limited opportunities and inadequate systems back home.

Cassona has set out to change that story.

Earlier this year, Leni Chigbu, now the company’s Chief Operating Officer, traveled to Shenyang Medical College in northern China. She was not there just to attend a graduation ceremony. She was there to extend a hand—to speak with young African graduates face to face and invite them to come back home, not just with their degrees, but with renewed purpose.

Through a groundbreaking recruitment initiative, Cassona is creating real career opportunities for these young doctors in Ghana and Nigeria. The idea is simple but powerful: bring together internationally trained African doctors with locally educated professionals to create a vibrant, knowledge-sharing medical workforce. It is a blend of global exposure and local understanding, working hand in hand.

“Our aim is to create a space where global training meets local passion,” said John Chigbu. “This is how we begin to fix what is broken—not just by bringing in machines, but by bringing back people who believe in the future of our continent.”

This initiative is also part of a broader effort to address the long-standing challenge of brain drain. By providing meaningful work and the resources to make an impact, Cassona is helping to reverse a pattern that has weakened African health systems for decades.

Next generation of problem solvers

But Cassona is not stopping at doctors. The company understands that healthcare is an ecosystem. No matter how advanced a machine may be, it is only as useful as the people who can operate, maintain, and repair it.

In hospitals across Ghana, expensive imaging equipment often breaks down. Without trained engineers to fix them, these machines become little more than furniture. Many sit unused for months or even years, while patients are turned away or referred to distant facilities.

Cassona has decided that this must change.

The company has launched a training programme for local engineering students, giving them hands-on experience in repairing and maintaining medical equipment. Working in partnership with global manufacturers and local universities, Cassona is opening its doors and its machines to students eager to learn.

“Too often, companies come in, sell the equipment, and leave. A year later, the machine breaks, and no one can fix it,” Mr. Chigbu explained. “We want to create a future where our own engineers can solve these problems, where young people are trained not just to use technology, but to sustain it.”

Through workshops, mentorship, and access to state-of-the-art tools, students are gaining real-world skills that will serve them and their communities for years to come. And this training is not theoretical—it is grounded in solving real problems that affect real people every day.

Commitment to community

Cassona’s work is rooted in the understanding that healthcare must be sustainable. That means building trust, empowering local professionals, and ensuring that technology is not only available, but functional and accessible. Their services go beyond just delivering equipment. They install, maintain, and support these systems over time. They train personnel and offer ongoing technical support.

Each decision the company makes is driven by a question that reflects its human-centered philosophy: How can we serve the people better?

The answers come in many forms. A repaired CT scanner in a rural hospital. A Ghanaian student in China who decides to come home and work. An engineering graduate who can now walk into a hospital and fix a broken X-ray machine, knowing their skills are saving lives.

Future inspiration

For John and Leni Chigbu, Cassona is more than a business. It is the legacy of a beloved mother whose life was cut short. It is also a commitment to ensuring that what happened to her does not happen to others.

With presence in Nigeria, more recruitment drives on the way, Cassona is building more than a company. It is building a movement—a new way of thinking about healthcare in Africa. One where Africans lead. One where local talent thrives. One where every machine, every job, and every patient is part of something greater.

In the words of Mr. Chigbu, “We are not just fixing machines. We are building trust, we are building capacity, and above all, we are building hope.”

And for countless families across Africa, that hope may be the most powerful medicine of all.

Conclusion

From the impacts I have seen, I believe Cassona Global Imaging Limited stands as a shining example of what is possible when purpose meets innovation and compassion drives business. From its origins in grief to its growing footprint in Ghana and beyond, the company has redefined health delivery by focusing not just on machines, but on people, the doctors returning home, the engineers being trained, and the countless patients whose lives are being saved through timely diagnoses.

In bridging the gap between global expertise and local needs, Cassona is doing more than delivering medical equipment; it is nurturing a sustainable healthcare ecosystem powered by African talent. As the company looks to the future, its impact will continue to resonate not only in the corridors of hospitals, but in the hearts of communities across the continent. Cassona is not just changing healthcare—it is giving Africa the tools, the skills, and the confidence to heal itself. Indeed, Cassona Global Imaging Limited is impacting in health delivery in more ways than one.

Source: John Awuni / Bright Philip Donkor