Doctors at the Kenyatta Hospital on
Wednesday morning November 3rd,
successfully separated conjoined twins in the
first ever surgery of its kind on the continent.
A team of 50 medical specialists separated
the twin girls, Favour and Blessing, whose
lower backs were fused, in an operation that
took 23 hours and concluded at 5am on
Wednesday morning after a two year hospital
stay.
The twins are currently admitted in the
Intensive Care Unit of the hospital but KNH
Acting Chief Executive Officer Thomas Mutie,
told reporters that they are expected to make
a full recovery.
“It is the first time in Sub-Saharan
Africa, outside South Africa where this
kind of operation has been done
successfully. So this fete is a
statement to the world ‘in KNH and in
Kenya, we can do what other people
can do."
The girls have been admitted to the hospital
for the last two years since their birth in late
2014. The doctors however opted to given
the children time to grow before putting
them under the knife to allow them time for
preparation and to allow the girls to grow in
strength as explained by doctor Mutie.
"These particular ones were joined in
the sacro area, in the bottom area,
and they had to be given food to grow,
to have enough muscles for that
separation to occur. So this day marks
the culmination of those two years of
preparation and I’m humbled by the
importance and enormity of this
event."
Below is a report posted by the Hospital on
its official Facebook page:
"On 1st November 2016, the Kenyatta
National Hospital and School of
Health Sciences - University of Nairobi
medical team successfully separated
the conjoined twins Blessing and
Favour.
The separation surgery of the
Sacrophagus twins who were joined at
the lower back took 23 hours. The
twins have been in KNH since 5th
September 2014 following their
referral from St. Theresa Hospital,
Kiirua in Meru County.
The multidisciplinary team of over fifty (50)
medical specialists including paediatric
surgeons, neurosurgeons, plastic and
reconstructive surgeons, anesthetists and
nursing teams performed the 23 hour long
highly delicate surgery on 1st November
2016 at the KNH Main Theatres leading to
the successful separation of the twins. The
surgery ended 2nd November, 2016 at
5:00am.
The children have been admitted in the
Specialized Surgical Paediatric Ward for over
two years to allow development of key organs
and also enable them gain appropriate
muscles to withstand the surgery. The
conjoined twin girls who were born on 4th
September 2014 were joined at the sacral
region of the lower spinal cord.
Surgery of this nature usually required
planning and regular consultation by a multi-
disciplinary team of KNH and School of
Health Sciences, UON specialists to exchange
ideas on how best to perform the procedure
while minimizing risk of either paralysis or
neural damage.
Having been convinced that time was
appropriate, the team set on the surgery on
1st November 2016, at 6.00am and after 23
long hours in theatre, they emerged with the
two separate children who are currently
admitted in the ICU. The children are stable,
receiving specialized care and we are
monitoring progress.
We are confident that
they will fully recovery and live normal
independent lives to adulthood.
We thank God for this great milestone and
celebrate the team for the job well done. It
has taken not only skills but patience,
commitment and self confidence to bring this
joy to the mother, relatives, friends and
honor to our country for the first ever
sarcophagus surgery in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Successful surgery is a testimony that
the country is endowed with medical
specialists who can handle complicated
human health challenges"
See photos of the twins at birth, in 2014 and
also photos of the doctors after the surgery,
below...
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