Yemeni conjoined twins to be separated tomorrow

RIYADH: As part of the Kingdom’s humanitarian efforts to help the Yemeni people, separation surgery of conjoined Yemeni twins will be performed at the King Abdul Aziz Medical City, National Guard Health Affairs on Friday.
The separation is to take place on the directives of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and with the blessings of Crown Prince Prince Mohammed bin Naif and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, adviser at the Royal Court and head of the medical and surgical team, explained that the surgical procedure on the Yemeni twins, Abdul Aziz and Abdullah, will be carried out in eight stages.
The 12-hour surgery will be carried by a team of doctors comprising 30 specialists from the departments of anesthesia, pediatric surgery, urology, orthopedics, plastics, nursing, technicians and paramedics.
Al-Rabeeah expressed thanks to Prince Miteb bin Abdullah, minister of National Guard, for his interest in helping the Yemeni family to relieve them of their agony.
The father of the twins, Fathi Abdullah Hussein Baqyah, expressed gratitude to King Salman for making the arrangements. This separation will be the 36th surgery performed on conjoined twins in the Kingdom since 1990 on cases from more than 18 countries.
Dr. Rabeeah performed the first conjoined twin separation surgery in the Kingdom on Dec. 31, 1990, at Riyadh’s King Faisal Specialist Hospital. The operation, which was successful, was performed on twin Saudi females joined at the stomach.
Saudi Arabia has a team of top surgeons in the separation of twins with experience in treating more than 65 twins from 18 countries, of which 31 have been successful during the past two decades. The remaining cases were not fit for separation owing to health reasons. Besides the Kingdom, the twins have come from countries such as Sudan, Yemen, Egypt, Malaysia, Philippines, Poland, Morocco and Iraq.