KidsOR Launches New Operating Room at Makueni County Referral Hospital

KidsOR has launched new children operating room alongside Smile Train at Makueni County Referral Hospital. 

KidsOR was formally launched in January 2018, and believes in a world where every single child has the right to access safe surgery on the other hand , Smile Train is world’s largest cleft-focused organization, with a sustainable and local model of supporting surgery and other forms of essential care.

This new Operating Room will increase surgical provision at the hospital, whilst reducing cases referred on the 200km journey to Nairobi as had been done previously. 

The facility will make access to life-saving surgical care faster & safer for the children of the county

The launch was officiated by  Makueni County Governor H.E Prof. Kivutha Kibwana. The children’s Operating Room was refurbished and equipped courtesy of Smile Train Africa Smile Train and Kids Operating Room (KidsOR).

The theatre which has been installed at Makueni Country Referral Hospital is expected to increase its surgical provision while reducing referral cases which until now have mostly been to Kenyatta National Hospital.

Speaking at the opening of the theatre Makueni Governor Kibutha Kibwana recognised the initiative, “Through strategic partnerships, The County referral hospital is able to provide the most vulnerable and deserving families with the best of care closer to their doorsteps. The Pediatric theatre is a strong case for public- private partnerships in action.”

Director for Africa at KidsOR, Rosemary Mugwe recognised the projected impact of having a dedicated theatre for children. “The theatre has been fitted with modern equipment suited for children, with it, the County referral hospital will no doubt handle more paediatric cases locally, reducing the referrals sent to Nairobi. Timely and quality access to surgery for all children should be a right regardless of one’s social status or economic background”. 

Ms Mugwe further emphasised why paediatric surgical care needs investment, now more than ever, for Sub-Saharan African going by findings from recent research published by KidsOR which states that 87 percent of children who cannot access surgical care live in Low- and Middle-Income Countries; the average distance travelled to access surgery is 200km (with some children travelling for up to five days) and that in 33 African countries there is a critical shortage of health workers. 

Makueni County Referral Hospital was constructed in 2018 and has four operating theatres, two of which are dedicated to obstetrics and gynaecology with the other two used for general surgery. 

It has two general surgeons who perform paediatric surgeries, an ENT surgeon and number of specialist plastic surgeons and dental surgeons.  

Further, the hospital has specialist obstetrician and gynaecologist surgeon’s along with eight anaesthetists.

The theatre installation which cost approximately USD300,000 is expected to benefit the county’s population of approximately 1 million.

Additionally, the long-term collaboration of KidsOR and Smile Train will ultimately result in more than 30 paediatric operating rooms provided across countries in Africa over the next five years, treating more than 12,000 children. 

The facility has also been fitted with modern equipment suited for children. The Smile Train-KidsOR partnership is also supporting a Pediatric Surgery Scholarship for the training and education of 40 pediatric surgeons across Africa in partnership with the West African College of Surgeons (WACS) and the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA).

As of January 2022, KidsOR marked a huge milestone having launched their  50th KidsOR Operating Room at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, in Kumasi, Ghana.

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KidsOR seeks to create a world where every child has access to safe surgery by ensuring local surgical teams have the necessary tools to care for their nation’s children.

KidsOR who are our members at Nairobi Garage // Karen believe in creating sustainable healthcare systems, which is why they don’t only install and equip Operating Rooms, they also ship all the necessary equipment for a pediatric Operating Room from its Centre for Global Operations in Dundee.

The organization also funds the training of future pediatric surgeons through the provision of surgical scholarships.

Since our inception in 2018, we have installed Operating Rooms across all over Africa and in parts of Latin America. With the installation of these two Operating Rooms in Ghana, we now have ORs in 20 countries. 

Where it all started

Dr John Sekabira was one of the very few pediatric surgeons working in Uganda. Based in the capital city of Kampala, he was trying to care for as many of the country’s 20 million children as he possibly could – that’s about the population of New York. 

Unfortunately, without a dedicated children’s Operating Room, the limited resources were regularly allocated to adult surgeries. The solution seemed simple: create a dedicated pediatric operating theatre with its own admissions space.

In high-income countries having a pediatric surgical wing is the norm; however, this isn’t always the case in low-and middle-income countries.

The KidsOR team soon realized that this simple approach was working and started planning to install as many children’s Operating Room as possible with the help of local surgical teams and health ministers.

About KidsOR

KidsOR is a global health charity with bases in Nairobi, Edinburgh, London, and Dundee. It works directly with local surgeons and their teams across Africa and South America to transform hospital spaces into dedicated Operating Rooms for children’s surgery, creating child-friendly surroundings and providing surgeons with the specialist equipment they need to care for their nation’s children.  

More than 53,000 children have accessed life-changing or life-saving care through KidsOR’s work. The charity also funds training of surgeons and anesthesia providers and works with National Ministries of Health to develop sustainable healthcare services.  

 KidsOR advocates, at a national and international level, on the global plight of children denied access to safe surgery. The KidsOR vision is for a world where every child has equal access to safe surgery. Visit: www.kidsOR.org 

Where next?

KidsOR has huge plans and ambitions to bring safe surgery to every child. By 2030, we plan to create 120 centers of excellence across East and West Africa, each with world-class, state-of-the-art operating rooms, pre -and post-operative care. 

KidsOR will also plans to expand its work in Latin America and other parts of the world. They will continue to advocate for children’s surgery and the right to universal healthcare access.