Short answers, pulled from the story.
Surgery is a medical specialty that uses manual and instrumental techniques to diagnose or treat pathological conditions like trauma, disease, injury, or malignancy. Trepanation represents the oldest known surgical treatment dating back to the prehistoric era where holes were drilled into skulls to treat intracranial pressure issues.
Modern operations typically involve a team including a surgeon, surgical assistant, anaesthetist, scrub nurse, circulating nurse, and sometimes a perfusionist if cardiopulmonary bypass is needed. A scalpel cuts through skin in 1918 at the Red Cross Hospital in Tampere, Finland capturing the essence of this medical practice.
Anesthesia discovery began in the 1840s with ether used by American surgeon Crawford Long and chloroform developed by Scottish obstetrician James Young Simpson. General anesthesia renders patients unconscious and paralyzed requiring intubation and mechanical ventilation during procedures.
Ancient Egyptian mandibles dated to approximately 2650 BC show perforations indicating abscess drainage procedures. Surgical texts from ancient Egypt date back about 3500 years ago with priests performing operations using sutures and treating infections with honey.
Halfdan T. Mahler stated in 1980 that the vast majority of the world's population has no access whatsoever to skilled surgical care. The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery published a landmark report in 2015 describing how about five billion people lack access to safe and affordable surgical and anesthesia care.