KidsOR to set up operating room in Afghanistan to help with ‘desperate need’

A Scottish charity which has provided lifesaving surgery to children across the world is set to open a state-of-the-art paediatric operating room in Afghanistan’s capital.

Kids Operating Room will open the theatre in Kabul’s Ataturk Children’s Hospital, where the charity said surgeons have been working with a critical lack of equipment and resources to treat youngsters.

Nicola Wood, the charity’s co-founder, said the installation will “directly save lives as well as allow children to live their lives free from disability and pain”.

Currently, paediatric surgeons are working with very old equipment that is often faulty or equipment that is designed for adults

“Afghanistan is one of the hardest places in the world to be a child and there is a huge and desperate need for a paediatric surgery facility,” she said.

Afghanistan has a large child population and one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world, Unicef says.

To open the new operating room, the charity has shipped more than 3,300 pieces of paediatric surgical equipment from its logistics hub in Dundee to the Afghan capital more than 5,000 miles away.

Now at sea, the shipment is expected to arrive in the Taliban-controlled country later this month, when the charity said it will work with in-country biomedical engineers to get the operating room open early next year.

The operating room will treat around 1,000 children a year.

Mrs Wood, who co-founded the charity with her husband Garreth, said: “Ultimately, it will transform the futures of vulnerable children and their families.

By providing access to safe paediatric surgery, we are breaking new ground to save children's lives

“Every child deserves access to surgery and we’re committed to putting the resources in place to make this happen for children across the globe.”

KidsOR has installed 59 operating rooms across Africa and Latin America since it was set up in 2018 and Dr Dunya Moghul, now a paediatric surgeon for the charity, made clear the need to improve surgical conditions for children in Afghanistan.

“Surgery is a basic human right that must sit at the heart of any sustainable healthcare system,” said the surgeon, who is originally from Afghanistan.

“By providing access to safe paediatric surgery, we are breaking new ground to save children’s lives.

“Currently, paediatric surgeons are working with very old equipment that is often faulty or equipment that is designed for adults.

“This means providing surgical services for children in these settings is exceedingly difficult and a lot of time is lost.

“The installation will not only provide a safe, clean facility for surgery but it will also provide brand new dedicated children’s equipment.”