RIYADH, 3 May 2005 — Saudi conjoined twins that were admitted to King Abdul Aziz Medical City in Riyadh for surgical separation died on Sunday of heart failure.
The twins, born in Jubail, had been transferred to the Riyadh hospital on the instructions of Crown Prince Abdullah from the National Guard Hospital in Al-Ahsa where they were receiving treatment.
According to a spokesman at King Abdul Aziz Medical City, the chance for the survival of the twins was remote since they shared a weak heart and its function was deteriorating gradually. They also shared lungs, liver, kidneys and genitals. Although they had separate heads and brains, they were joined at the abdomen, pelvis, buttocks and spine.
“Ever since they were admitted to the hospital, they had been undergoing pre-surgical tests,” he said.
“There is nothing we could do since the conjoined twins were brought to the hospital with serious complications,” said Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeea, the chief executive officer of the hospital.
He said the fate of the infants was the will of Almighty Allah.
The parents of the twins thanked Crown Prince Abdullah for his humanitarian gesture in trying to help the infants.
Since 1990, a total of nine procedures 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, the Philippines and lately from Poland.
