Scottish charity opens up surgery unit for children in refugee camp
A PAEDIATRIC operating room said to be the first in a refugee camp and set up by a Scots-based charity has officially opened after the ceremony was delayed due to the pandemic and terrorist warnings.
The facility in Kakuma, Kenya, was set up by the charity Kids Operating Room (Kidsor), which delivered and installed more than 3,000 items of equipment and surgical tools to provide safe surgery at the site.
It has been in use for nearly a year and is expected to have capacity for operations on up to 1,000 children annually, providing life-saving treatments that were previously unavailable in Kakuma due to the lack of necessary surgical equipment and paediatric surgeons.
Kidsor said the camp, which has a larger population than Dundee, is home to around 40,000 children.
Dr Neema Kaseje, a paediatric surgeon and Kidsor advisory member, has been training a surgical team in Kenya to maximise use of the operating room, while leading the procedures that have taken place so far.
She said: “It’s hard for most of us to imagine living in a refugee camp setting, let alone the thought of our child not being able to access the surgery that could save their life or alleviate them from terrible pain.
“I am honoured to be able to play a part in these life-changing operations and the social and economic benefits the installation has brought to the area.”
Jibril Hussein Imidi, 10, was one of the first patients to receive surgery from the doctor and her surgical team, having suffered from a debilitating and painful hernia since birth.
His condition had previously been left untreated due to the lack of specialist surgeons and facilities that were adapted to children, causing him severe stomach pain and digestion issues.
After his 40-minute surgery finally took place, his mother Aziza said: “We had so many challenges before he was operated on. We could not go a week without him falling sick.
“The hospital became our home; we spent less time at home and more time at the hospital.
“The operating room provided Jibril with the operation that he so desperately needed. The surgery has helped so much. He is now back at school and doing so well.”
Kidsor representatives joined surgical teams, key figures from the UN Refugee Agency and the International Rescue Committee at Kakuma General Hospital in the camp yesterday, along with county officials of Kenya, for a ceremony to officially open the operating room.
Edinburgh-headquartered Kidsor was founded by husband and wife philanthropists Garreth and Nicola Wood.
Mr Wood said: “The new safe surgical facilities, equipment and trained medical staff in Kakuma have already had a substantial effect.
“Thousands of children can now access timely surgical care in Kakuma refugee camp and this is something that should be celebrated.
“It was rewarding for many of those involved in this milestone project to officially mark the occasion, especially after the long delays and understandable postponements of the event over the last year.
“This is only the start and we will strive to continue progressing this vital requirement, not only throughout Africa but other developing countries.”
In 2021, the University of California San Francisco, working with data collectors in each Kidsor partner hospital, found the charity had facilitated 49,154 operations.
In Nigeria, a country of approximately 30 million children, Kidsor has installed three Operating Rooms at the Abuja National Hospital, creating capacity to perform 1800 operations a year, and increasing the number of neonates accessing surgery by 140% .
Now, there is at least one trainee paediatric surgeon and one trainee anaesthesiologist present in every operation, providing a long-term positive impact for children’s access to lifesaving surgery in Nigeria.
Zambia, which has only six paediatric surgeons serving eight million children, was the focus of the charity’s largest project in a single country with six operating rooms installed in two hospitals.
Before installation, 20% of the operations at University Teaching Hospital went ahead without the necessary surgical resources – the biggest barrier being regulating children’s temperature, which often meant having to delay life-saving operations to warmer days.
Now, with two new, dedicated, paediatric surgeons in training, there is capacity for 3600 operations a year, so 61,000 life years blighted by disability are being averted each year in Zambia.
We will strive to continue progressing this vital requirement, not only throughout Africa but in other developing countries