A Kuwaiti-born surgeon and father of four broke down in tears as he recounted how he worked to save a 4-year-old girl wounded in the mosque attacks — saying, “It could have been my boy, it could have been my girl.”

Dr. Adib Khanafer, a vascular surgeon, was operating on a patient at Christchurch Hospital when he received word that he was needed urgently in another room, according to the New Zealand Herald.

“This was a totally different call … it said, ‘Come now!’ and, ‘Where are you?’ and, ‘How far,’” he told the newspaper. “This is the first time I have run to theater.”

Unbeknownst to Khanafer, dozens of people had just been killed in two city mosques and dozens of wounded were streaming into the hospital, including women and children.

One of them was a 4-year-old girl with gunshot wounds who was fighting for her life and had been undergoing surgery for 45 minutes.

Khanafer was called to provide his expertise because she had suffered vascular damage, particularly around her pelvis.

“It was really sad to see a young girl on the table,” he said, apologizing for his display of emotion and explaining that he has four children between 7 and 14.

“It could have been my boy, it could have been my girl,” he said tearfully.

Khanafer — who was born in Kuwait and describes himself as British-Lebanese — said he had never operated on a child.

“The youngest in my career would be in their 30s — 90 percent are above 60,” he said.

During the surgery, he said, he didn’t stop thinking about his family or the horror that had just been unleashed in his city, but he put his emotions aside and did what he was trained to do.

But the minute his work was done, “I stepped out of theater and started crying,” he said.

He then called his wife to check on his family, and spoke to the girl’s father, who also was wounded.

“I said look, ‘We have done our bit, the rest is up to God Almighty,’” he said.

Meanwhile, the girl remains in critical condition.

“I am extremely optimistic,” he said about her chances of recovery.

Khanafer said the massacre has affected his kids.

“My 13-year-old daughter wanted her mother to take off her hijab because she was worried she would be targeted,” he said. “I told her we continue to be in a safe town.”