Surgeons in Saudi Arabia have successfully separated
Hassanah and Hussaina, the conjoined Nigerian twins.
The surgery began on Thursday at the King Abdullah
Specialist Hospital for Children and was said to have lasted for 14 hours.
The procedure involved eight different phases and a team of
35 doctors, medical experts and nurses.
Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Rabeeah, supervisor-general of
King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, and leader of the surgical
team, said following the separation, the reconstruction process has begun.
“We still have a
couple of hours left for the reconstruction process, but thanks God the
decisive phase has passed,” he said.
The twins, who were born in January 2022 at the Ahmadu Bello
University Teaching Hospital, Kaduna, were conjoined at the abdomen, pelvis,
liver, intestines, urinary and reproductive systems and pelvic bones areas.
They were moved to the National Hospital in Abuja, where
they stayed for about eight months without undergoing surgery due to lack of
funds.
The government of Saudi Arabia, however, offered free
surgery to the family.
Hassana and Hussaina, accompanied by their parents, arrived
in Saudi Arabia on December 8, 2022, on an air medical evacuation plane.
The twins’ separation is the 56th carried out by Saudi
Arabia’s humanitarian programme in 33 years.
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