RIYADH, 11 March 2005 — Crown Prince Abdullah gave a special audience on Wednesday to the separated Polish conjoined twins, Daria and Olga, along with their mother and a 50-member medical team headed by Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah at the National Guard headquarters here.
The crown prince had met the twins on the day they were discharged after a successful surgery conducted on Jan.3 at the King Abdul Aziz Medical City for National Guard under his direct sponsorship.
During the audience, the mother of the twins, Wieslawa Dabrowska, carried Olga, while the accompanying Polish pediatrician Dr. Jolanta Jezewska took Daria in her arms to express their gratitude to the crown prince for being responsible for the former twin’s expensive surgery. While expressing his satisfaction over the good health of the separated twins, Prince Abdullah commended Dr. Rabeeah and his team for their great services to the medical achievements of the Kingdom. He described the members of the medical team as “ proud sons of the Arabian soil”.
The crown prince also presented mementos to Olga, Daria and their mother.
Dr. Rabeeah said that the twins showed tremendous improvement during the post-surgery period and they contributed to a quick discharge from hospital. “The twins will be able to go home by the end of this month,” he added.
Dabrowska told Arab News that she was full of thanks to the crown prince for his magnanimity which led her two babies to lead a normal life, “ I have two babies now instead of the conjoined twins I brought from Warsaw , I must be the happiest person on earth when I proudly return home with these tiny tots ,” she said.
“ It was a touching moment when Dabrowska thanked the crown prince profusely for his noble gesture,” Polish Ambassador Adam Kulach told Arab News. The envoy added that Saudi Arabia has become a household name in Poland following the medical feat. “Every Pole is thankful to this medical marvel performed by Saudi doctors.”
Two weeks ago , Kulach hosted a reception in honor of the medical team where Dr. Rabeeah and his team of doctors and paramedics were given special awards on behalf of the government of Poland.
The twins were born on Oct. 8, 2003 at the Centrum Matki Polki Institute in Lodz, Poland. Their bodies were connected for 15 centimeters, sharing a common spine, part of the large intestine and anus.
Since 1990, a total of nine surgeries for separation of conjoined twins have been performed in the Kingdom. Three pairs of twins were from the Kingdom , two from Sudan and one each from Malaysia, Egypt and Philippines. The last one was early last year when doctors successfully separated eight-month-old Filipino conjoined girls who shared an abdomen, pelvis and lower organs.
