Edinburgh charity helps Nigerian children’s hospital increase operations by 66 per cent

A children’s hospital in Abuja, the Capital of Nigeria has managed to increase the number of paediatric operations carried out by two-thirds thanks to a new operating hospital installed by funds from an Edinburgh-based charity, KidsOR

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Before the operation room was installed only 229 operations were able to take place per year but thanks to the new facilities number of operations performed have increased by 66 per cent.

From September 2019 to September last year 381 operations were performed at the National Hospital in Abuja.

Staff at the National Hospital in Abuja.

The hospital’s hard working team has been able to completely clear their backlog of patients - which used to involve a waiting list of a year or sometimes more.

Commenting on the difference that the new operating room has made the hospital’s chief paediatric surgeon, Dr Olubunmi Majekodunmi said surgery has become more effective.

The doctor said: “Having a KidsOR Operating Room has made surgeries far more effective. We have paediatric-sized instruments and do not have to struggle with larger ones meant for adult surgeries.

“As for the children, they move into an operating room filled with beautiful wallpapers and exciting toys and are so engaged that they do not even realise when they are put under anaesthesia. But, most importantly, our backlog of patients which used to involve a waiting list of a year or sometimes more, has been cleared.

“The relief on the faces of parents when they realise that their kids can have surgeries within a few days – enough time for pre-operative preparation – is priceless. Thank you KidsOR for such a tremendous gift!”

Africa director at KidsOR Rosemary Mugwe said: “The Surgical Team at National Hospital were carrying out fantastic work before KidsOR came on board; however, they lacked specialist paediatric equipment to provide safe, quality surgery.

“We were happy to provide the tools – metaphorically and literally – to give them even greater capacity to help the children of Abuja. And we are delighted to learn of the large increase in the number of operations being carried out meaning that children do not have to wait for life saving or life changing surgery.”

The charity’s research also revealed that the percentage of wound infections decreased from 1.3 per cent to 0.29 per cent during the year after the new Operating Room was installed.

This figure represents the percentage of surgical cases in which the patient developed a surgical infection and is another quality of surgery measure.

KidsOR is a Scottish global health charity with bases in Edinburgh, Dundee and Nairobi with an ambition to provide all children around the world with access to safe surgery.

The charity also funds training of surgeons and anaesthesia providers and works with National Ministries of Health to develop sustainable healthcare services.

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