Washington - The government of Abu Dhabi is to make a 150-million-dollar donation to a children's hospital in the US capital in a bid to transform the way the facility conducts pediatric surgery, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The gift to the Children's National Medical Centre is to be made over five years and could have a dramatic effect on the entire field of pediatric surgery, said Edwin Zechman Jr, president and chief executive of the medical centre.

"Pediatric surgery could look 100-per-cent different in five to 10 years," he said.

According to the paper, doctors at what is to be called the Sheik Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation are to collaborate across disciplines to improve surgery for children.

Among the innovations they are to focus on are using genetic research to personalize surgeries and pain management, bringing imaging technology directly into the operating room to guide procedures with greater precision, using nanoparticles to target tumors and, in some cases, eliminating the need for surgery altogether.

"What really impressed us about Children's was their vision of a significant leap forward and rethinking pediatric care," said Yousef al-Otaiba, the United Arab Emirates's ambassador to the United States. "This isn't going toward buildings, to bricks and mortar and a big sign on a building - it's going toward research in pediatric care." (dpa)