KidsOR Centre to treat 200,000 children annually
Botswana is the recipient of the 100th Kids operating room. The new theatre located at Princess Marina Referral Hospital was officially unveiled on Tuesday this week.
The historic event marks a momentous occasion not only in the journey of the organisation but in the future of surgical care for children in Africa. KidsOR has footprints in 34 low-resource countries.
The 100th operation theatre is more than a milestone, but a promise fulfilled and a commitment renewed, Co-founder and Chairman of KidsOR, Garreth Wood said.
The operating room, powered by solar energy and equipped to the highest international standards, now brings its capacity to treat children in surgery to more than 200,000 children every year.
“Just pause and reflect on that for a moment. Hundreds and thousands of children every year, whose lives will be saved every year, whose pain will be relieved, whose potential will no longer be held back due to a lack of access to safe surgery,” Wood explained.
He noted that it was no coincidence that their hundredth theatre was in Botswana, a country that is bold enough to plan for the future and humble enough to partner for progress.
The new facility, he said, is a direct result of a national review of children’s surgical services led by the Ministry of Health. That review, he explained, identified the urgent needs and crucially acted on them.
According to Wood, this partnership is rooted in trust and determination. The project was supported through the generous donation and support of Steve and Maggie Lansdown.
“Your unwavering belief in this cause, your determination to make a meaningful difference in the lives of children and your world-leading approach to philanthropy have been nothing short of transformative,” he explained.
Wood revealed that at KidsOR, they have always believed in investing not only in infrastructure but in the people.
“We don’t fly in doctors, we build capacity. We train local teams and we support the entire surgical ecosystem,” he said, noting that this includes Paediatric Surgeons, Paediatric anaesthesiologists, nurses and Bio Medical Engineers.
“Our aim is not to build dependency, but our mission is to build independence,” he said.
He said that when they launched the charity in 2018, they made an audacious pledge to install 100 paediatric operating rooms in the world's most under-resourced countries by 2030.
At the time, he says that they were told that it could not be done.
“Well, here we are, not in 2030, but in 2025, standing on our hundredth completed operating room, five years ahead of schedule,” he said.
He also pointed out that with time remaining on their original pledge, they would go further.
“By 2030, we will double our impact. We will build another 100 operating theatres. This will increase capacity to treat almost half a million children every year,” Wood said, highlighting that this would enable every child to live a healthy and dignified life.
To the funders, he says that their investment in Botswana has not only been financial but personal and deeply inspiring.
“You have challenged us to think bigger, act faster, and to believe more boldly in what is possible. The strength of our work here in Botswana lies in the depth of our partnership.
This is not a once-off donation or symbolic gesture. This is a strategic long-term collaboration between Steve and Maggie Lansdown, and KidsOR, which is aligned with Botswana’s national surgical plan and embedded in the country’s national health public system,” he emphasised.
For his part, Steve Lansdown pointed out that his relationship with this investment can be traced back to five years ago, when he received a phone call from Wood when the COVID-19 pandemic was coming to a close.
Wood informed him that they had a lot of PPEs that they needed to deliver to Africa, and were looking for sponsors to deliver it.
He explained that he agreed to do it as long as some of that donation came to Botswana, because of his love for the country.
This initiative with the operating theatre was more than just a donation, but an investment in the future of Botswana.
He noted that they have been coming to Botswana on a regular basis since 2007, as they have investments mainly in the tourism business, with the most well-known being Mashatu.
“We are the largest employer in the Bobirwa district apart from the government,” he said.
Vice President, Ndaba Gaolathe, said that across the globe, disparities in healthcare continue to rob children of their potential.
The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted essential health services, with childhood vaccinations experiencing the largest decline in 30 years.
“In Botswana, under-five mortality remains a pressing concern, with preventable diseases like pneumonia and diarrhoea still the leading causes of death.
But this theatre reminds us that the future is not fixed, but it is forged,” Gaolathe said. He said the partnership between KidsOR, the generous Lansdown family.
The dedicated medical professionals and the government of Botswana are a living testament to what can be achieved when stakeholders come together.
“This theatre is not just a facility but a promise that we will never let a child die because they had no space, equipment, or a voice,” he said.
He said the government is committed to transforming the health sector, expanding specialised care, strengthening medical training, and embracing digital innovation to ensure that no one is left behind.