Doctors in Kabul Separate 15-Day-Old Conjoined Twins, Surgical First for Afghanistan

Conjoined twins are identical twins who in rare cases, about one in 200,000 live births, are born with their skin and internal organs fused together. About half of them are stillborn, and the survival rate is between 5-25%. They develop from a single egg, which splits in the case of healthy twins, but not fully in the case of conjoined twins. Two conjoined twin sisters, Ayesha and Sidiqa, who had been fused from the abdomen to the pelvis were born in a village in the province of Badakhshan in Afghanistan. They were immediately brought to the local hospital, from where they were transferred to the French Medical Institute for Children, co-run by medical charity Chain of Hope. The charity has reported that doctors in Kabul have separated the 15-day-old conjoined twin sisters, a surgical first for Afghanistan.

Five doctors carried out the successful five-hour operation last Saturday, July 29, 2015, to separate these girls. Both the girls were under close medical observation. The Afghan hospital teams can congratulate themselves on this great success, and this new step towards bringing better care to the population.

Source-AFP