The twins and their parents were flown from Najaf in an air ambulance to the Riyadh Airbase from where they were taken to KAMC for necessary tests. Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah was present at KAMC with his team of health officials to receive the twins.
Iraqi Ambassador Ghanim Alwan Al-Jumaily was also present at the hospital to look after the interests of the twins.
The twins, named Zainab and Ruqiya, were born on June 5. The girls’ father, Naseer Muhammad Hassan, thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for giving instructions to carry out the surgery in the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia regularly offers the medical procedure and covers the expenses. King Abdul Aziz Medical City has so far conducted 27 successful surgeries to separate conjoined twins from 16 different countries.
“We are very happy to be here in the Kingdom for the separation surgery of our daughters, which was made possible by the magnanimity of the king,” said Hassan, adding that he is confident in the ability of Saudi doctors to separate them.
Al-Rabeeah who is the head of the surgical team told reporters that the twins would undergo a series of clinical tests that would enable the team to determine when the surgery could take place. He hinted that it would take at least 10 days to decide on a date for separation.
Recently, three-month-old Jordanian twins Mohammed and Amjad, who were joined at the abdomen and chest and shared a liver, a gall bladder and intestines, were separated after six hours of surgery.
Other twins have been from Sudan, Yemen, Egypt, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, Iraq, Oman, Cameroon and Syria. A number of Saudi conjoined twins have also been separated at the hospital.
