FIVE years ago former Miss Scotland Nicola Wood and her husband Garreth started charity Kids Operating Room.
The idea behind the organisation is to build new, state-of-the-art surgical suites in parts of the world where children are dying due to a lack of proper facilities.
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By the end of the year, 80 of the operating rooms will be up and running in 28 countries.
Scottish Sun reporter Stuart Patterson and photographer Andy Barr joined Nicola and a Kids OR team in Zambia to see the work first hand.
Today, in day two of a special series, medics explain the impact the new theatres which have literally made the difference between life and death.
LITTLE Mary Muyabala looks miserable as she’s stuck in bed on a rundown hospital ward attached to a drip stand.
But she’s not hooked up like this to get liquids or medication.
It’s simply because her broken arm needs to be held up in the air to get the swelling down and nurses don’t have the proper kit to do it any other way.
The youngster, aged seven, has been stuck lying like this for a week at Kabwe Central hospital in Zambia and could be left for as long as another fortnight.
Her mum Madrea Banda sits by her side every day as they wait for her to undergo surgery.
Nursing officer Cleopatra Nyirenda said: “She needs to be in traction but we have to improvise.
“We don’t have any other equipment to do it. We have to do something.”
In a neighbouring bed Emmanuele Tembo, three, has been lying for two weeks since he broke his leg.
He was hooked up to a primitive device at the end of his bed for hours that used gravity to try to force the fracture back together. But it’s not worked and he will need surgery.
Mum Zenah said: “I’ve waited for a long time. I just want him to get help so he doesn’t hurt anymore.”
The ward doesn’t have any cots so the youngsters are all forced to lie on full-sized adult beds. At busy times staff admit that some children are forced to sleep on the floor.
The drawings of cartoon characters and fairytale characters next to the flaking paint and crumbling plaster do little to lift the low mood and feeling of hopelessness.
But along the corridor a brand new theatre installed by Scots charity Kids Operating Room has caused some light to start shining through the hospital.
Surgeons have proper, lifesaving equipment to work with for the first time in their long careers.
It’s helped cut waiting times meaning kids like Mary and Emmanuele don’t have to spend so long on the miserable wards.
The facility, funded by the Scottish Government, has sparked a revolution and anaesthetist Kangily Mulonda, 54, revealed it’s had an incredible effect.
He said: “This is really something. It is giving us hope.
“It’s made me better at my job. For 20 years I’ve been struggling. I never thought things would get any better.
“But now these guys appear from nowhere and everything has changed. Small simple things have made a big difference and we’re saving lives.”
Kabwe Central is the biggest hospital in the area and has a potential patient pool of 2.5million people. It’s busy with at least 300 admissions a day.
The majority of locals are farmers who had so little faith in medics that they would just refuse to let kids go to hospital if they were ill.
For them it made sense to just let the youngsters pass away at home rather than watch them die after making a long journey.
Dr Mulonda added: “Parents wouldn’t bring very sick children in. There was no point. All we could tell them was that it would be 50/50. They would just stay at home and let them die.”
In the past he would have had to manually heat up water before it was delivered by a drip to stop them shivering, now it’s done automatically.
He would have to pump things by hand, and that’s if he could find the correct machine for the job.
But that’s all changed thanks to the state-of-the-art machinery delivered by Kids Operating Room.
Dr Mulonda added: “I would be making guesses all the time.
“A child will never tell you if they are in pain. We had no idea if they were crying out of fear or because they were sore. Now the monitors tell us.
“Even when we lose a patient now the stress is less because we know why and we can tell the parents why.”
Kabwe Central was built in 1953 and has not had a revamp since then.
Surgeons are still using 70-year-old theatres which get incredibly hot because there is no air conditioning. This limits the amount of procedures they can carry out in a day.
And the kit medics have is falling apart so during operations crew members have to run around to get what’s needed while the patient is on the table.
After ops, kids would be lined up in a bleak corridor after surgery. Now they go to a bright and slick recovery room, created by the Kids Operating Room team.
Since the theatre opened last month surgeons can suddenly work longer in the air-conditioned rooms.
The number of surgeries has jumped from 15 to 32 in just four weeks.
And frightened kids are instantly soothed by the bright cartoon stickers on the walls.
They’re also calmed by the theatre staff all wearing a uniform for the first time, blue Kids Operating Room scrubs.
Dr Peter Tambwe, who’s been at Kabwe for 20 years, said: “I’m 70 and was born the same year the hospital was built. Just like the hospital I need a bit of help now and then. I just got a new hip.
“But this operating room is just exceptional, especially for children. Now before the operations they are not scared. They are relaxed and happy.”
Dr Mulonda confessed he used to dread coming to work but has a new found enthusiasm.
He said: “Everyone is safe. Now the team is really a team. The surgeons who are operating can check what’s happening.
“The theatre team can check a pulse. We can see what’s happening. It’s brought us closer together.”
Word of what Kids Operating Room has done has spread throughout the country.
Doctors at other hospitals are now demanding to know what the bosses at Kabwe did to get such a gift.
And they’re now desperate to get the same revamp in order to help their patients and create the same kind of revolution for their tiny patients.
Dr Mulonda added: “Everyone wants this. Who wouldn’t want such a beautiful facility? It really is the ideal.
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“The only thing we need to know is when they are coming back to build us another one.”
JOY AT LIVES SAVED
FORMER Miss Scotland and Kids Operating Room co-founder Nicola Wood visited Kabwe Central while touring Zambia.
And she was shocked by what she saw. Nicola, 42, said: “It’s always an eye-opener to walk into a hospital, especially in rural locations. This was probably the most basic one that I’ve been to.
“It’s brilliant that they’ve used the facilities they have to help patients, but upsetting to think that, up to now, there hasn’t been someone investing in that
Nicola of East Lothian, stuck on her Kids Operating Room scrubs for a look at the brand new operating theatre.
She was bowled over by the staff’s enthusiasm about the new facility and the changes it has made in a short space of time.
Nicola added: “To feel their joy is really powerful and special. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be as a medic to watch a child passing away and not being able to gauge what they can do for them in that moment.
“Now they know and they can act on it immediately.”
– To find out more and support Kids Operating Room log onto kidsor.org
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