A team of doctors led by former Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah separated Egyptian parasitic twins at King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC) on Sunday, the second such operation in two days at the facility.

Al-Rabeeah had led a team on Saturday that separated Yemeni conjoined twins in a nine-hour surgical operation. The operation on the Egyptian boys had to take place urgently because one of the twins had died, said an official from KAMC’s public relations department.

The living baby boy, Ahmed, was born in Riyadh with a parasitic conjoined twin that showed no signs of life. They were joined at the lower abdomen, with the parasitic twin having lower limbs, a partially developed pelvis, a kidney and some organs. However, the intestines of the complete twin were outside his abdomen due to a congenital abnormality.

Al-Rabeeah’s team had conducted preliminary medical tests and then decided to conduct an urgent operation to separate the two and reconstruct the abdomen wall of the baby boy. The official said the operation took three hours, one hour ahead of the targeted time. The surgical team comprised specialists in anesthesiology, pediatric surgery, plastic surgery and nursing.

Al-Rabeeah thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, Crown Prince Muqrin, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif, second deputy premier and minister of interior, for supporting the health sector. He also thanked National Guard Minister Prince Miteb bin Abdullah.

This separation was the 36th surgery on Siamese twins in the Kingdom since 1990, involving cases from more than 18 countries globally. Saudi Arabia has a team of top surgeons in this area. The children were from Sudan, Yemen, Egypt, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, Morocco and Iraq.