Mulago medics separate conjoined twins

The separated Co-joined twins. Their mother Brenda Ajok says she never attended antenatal clinic and just showed to deliver at Bala Health Center in Kole district.

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A team of 20 specialists at Mulago National Specialized hospital have successfully separated 11 months old Siamese twins.

Dr Philis Khisa, one of the doctors involved in the operation said that the process started last week with an investigation technically known as scoping where they had to identify the exact organs that the twins shared. They found that while the vaginal opening was one, inside they had separate organs. Also, they found that the twins were conjoined at the pelvis, at the large bone called the sacrum.

Dr John Sekabira, a consultant paediatric surgeon who led the team told journalists this afternoon that the Siamese twins’ rectum was fused at the end, they didn’t have a separate vagina, shared a urethra and the spinal code was joined at the tail end.

The operation that started at Midday on Monday ended at 9:00 am but doctors who conducted the surgery refer to it as one of the most complicated procedures which have to be done slowly and carefully since it also separating blood vessels.