Let’s ensure every child has access to affordable surgery

A child’s life somewhere today has been saved or made better, thanks to a paediatric surgeon.

It could be a disability that has been averted and the child is now able to resume school or engage in things that they enjoy.

However, it is not always easy for medics to provide surgical services to children when and they need it, even in cases where a hospital has proper equipment and human resources.

Take for example a paediatric surgeon at Kijabe Hospital who narrated how he tries to overcome his day-to-day challenges.

“Our work is generally challenged by the social disposition of our patients. The mixture of poverty, including deficiency of money, access to health and/or education. For example, we recently received a child who had been living with a condition for 14 years (delayed presentation).

“This is a daily challenge. Sometimes you do such a marvellous job… but the child needs reviewing, and because of distance and money, they don’t make it.

“I spend half my time trying to figure out the socioeconomic position of the child and then making a fit-for-purpose per child solution. Sometimes we win sometimes we lose”.

Hirschsprung disease

Another example is a boy, now 21, who was about six years and had around seven operations in his local hospital, before going to Hospital X.

He had Hirschsprung disease (a birth defect in which some nerve cells are missing in the large intestine, so a child’s intestine can’t move stool and becomes blocked.

They had done a main operation and his bladder was injured then. Later, the child got a private sponsor and travelled abroad for treatment. But as soon as he was back to Kenya, he fell ill again and went back to a local hospital.

At first, they were hesitant to do surgery. However, they managed to reconstruct the bladder.

Now he doesn’t have to pee stool. “We form relationships with kids and watch them grow, like this one. He’s an extremely strong-willed young man who now rides a motorcycle as a source of income. His quality of life matrix is at the top, thanks to this surgery,” the jubilant surgeon explained.

Research shows that an estimated 85 per cent of children in low- and middle-income countries will need surgery before turning 15. How will they receive care when so many countries have fewer than one paediatric surgeon per million children? And where there is workforce, 90 per cent work in majorly in cities, leaving children in rural areas vulnerable.

Today as we celebrate World Children’s Day, I want to recognise the efforts that the surgery health workers dedicate to cater to children.

As global citizens we must commit to the principles that outline the right to health as outlined in the Constitution and various global accords. We must commit, as nations, institutions, or individuals, to advocate for the rights of every child, which include access to safe, timely and affordable surgery.

Ms Mugwe is the Director of Africa, Kids Operating Room.