1 million operations!
Today, Kids Operating Room is celebrating an extraordinary milestone: we have now created surgical capacity for one million operations for children around the world.
From a single operating room, installed in Kampala, Uganda, in 2015, to one million operations made possible.
It is a number that can be difficult to comprehend. In fact, it is roughly equivalent to the number of children living in Scotland, where our charity is based.
But behind every one of those operations is something much more personal: a child, a family hoping for the best, and a local surgical team there to provide care when they needed it most.
For a child, surgery can unlock a lifetime of possibility. Getting back to school. Playing with friends. Growing up with family. And having the opportunity to decide for themselves what comes next.
To have helped make one million operations possible, offering children the chance of healed futures and putting those futures back where they belong, in their own hands, means the world to us.
And we did not get here alone.
This milestone belongs to the people we work alongside: local surgeons, nurses, biomedical engineers, hospital teams, health leaders and partners around the world.
Their expertise, knowledge and determination have shaped everything we do. By investing in local teams, permanent operating rooms, specialist equipment and stronger surgical systems, together we have created capacity that remains in place, allowing children to access surgery in the communities where it is truly, urgently needed.
It is precisely that model that has made this milestone possible.
What makes us proudest is that these operations are being delivered by incredible local surgical teams, caring for children in their own communities every day. One million operations means one million moments when surgery was there for a child who needed it.
And today, the work continues.
Over the coming days, we will introduce you to some of the children, families and surgical professionals behind this milestone. We will look back at where it began, celebrate the people who made it possible, and look ahead to everything still to come.
To every surgeon, nurse and hospital team. Every partner and supporter. Every family who has trusted us with their story.
One million operations is an extraordinary milestone.
But for every child who receives surgery, it's just the beginning.
Kids Operating Room makes surgery possible, so children can make anything possible.