A Saudi medical team led by the minister of health successfully separated two conjoined Siamese twin girls in a marathon 11-hour operation in the Gulf Kingdom, newspapers reported on Saturday.
Sarah and Ekram were in stable condition after the operation that was performed on Thursday at the National Guard Hospital in the capital Riyadh, they said.
The Algerian twins, who were conjoined at vagina, urethra, anus and lower part of the rectum, were flown into Saudi Arabia early this month for the operation that was ordered by King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, the papers said.
“Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeah, Minister of Health, led the marathon operation with a team of doctors that started the surgical procedure early Thursday,” the Arabic language newspaper Alriyadh said.
“The reconstruction of incisions was started after the conjoined twins were separated at 5:15 pm… it took about 11 hours to complete the operation.”
The National Guard Hospital has so far seen a total number of 48 sets of conjoined twins from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, Egypt, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, Morocco, Iraq, Cameroon, Oman and Syria.
“This operation is a message of love and a renunciation of hatred and chaos,” Dr Rabeah told reporters after the surgery.
“The blood that oozed out during the operation should be seen as a symbol of preserving human life unlike what we currently see on TV screens.”
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