Doctors battle to save Siamese twins
Jun 26, 2008
Mulago Hospital surgeons are examining Siamese twins delivered at Kibuli Hospital on Wednesday to determine if they can be separated. The female twins were born to Sauda Nakazibwe and Hussein Kato of Wakiso district. The couple has three children.
By Flavia Nakagwa
Mulago Hospital surgeons are examining Siamese twins delivered at Kibuli Hospital on Wednesday to determine if they can be separated.
The female twins were born to Sauda Nakazibwe and Hussein Kato of Wakiso district. The couple has three children.
The twins, co-joined from the trunk to the abdomen, have two heads, two hands at the front and two sprouting at the back, with two front legs and one developing at the back.
Halima Ndagire, the nurse in-charge of the maternity ward at Kibuli, said the case was the first of its kind at the hospital.
Born by caesarian, the twins weighed 4kg at birth.
“The operation was successful. The twins cried exactly after five minutes and immediately passed out urine,†Ndagire said.
She said the babies were referred to Mulago Hospital for further examination but their mother was recovering at Kibuli hospital.
Dr. Jamiir Mugalu, the head of the special care unit at Mulago, said experts were examining whether the twins shared the spine, heart, liver and kidney.
“We are ascertaining how their blood vessels are arranged so that we can know whether they require an immediate operation.â€
The babies are admitted in the intensive care unit where they are fed through tubes.
Mugalu observed that Siamese twins were not common, adding that the most recent case was of Veronica Driciru, 27, a resident of Arua, who had such twins in 2007.
They female twins, co-joined at the head and sharing a big vessel in the skull, died after 18 hours after birth, Mugalu said.
He also mentioned another case of twins born in Arua in 2001 but were successfully operated in the Unites States of America.
Kato, an art designer, said the news of the Siamese babies shocked him, because an earlier scan indicated that his wife carried twins, but not joined.
“Coming to terms with having Siamese twins hasn’t been easy, but I have received a lot of encouragement and comfort from friends and family. I love my children and I accept what God has given us,†he added.
Nakazibwe’s sister, Mastula Namubiru, however said the mother was still trying to come to terms with giving birth to co-joined twins.
“We are trying our best to comfort her, but she is still breaks down when people try to comfort her,†Namubiru said.
Nakazibwe, who will be discharged on Saturday, is a teacher at Balibabaseka Secondary School in Wakiso.
Mulago Hospital surgeons are examining Siamese twins delivered at Kibuli Hospital on Wednesday to determine if they can be separated.
The female twins were born to Sauda Nakazibwe and Hussein Kato of Wakiso district. The couple has three children.
The twins, co-joined from the trunk to the abdomen, have two heads, two hands at the front and two sprouting at the back, with two front legs and one developing at the back.
Halima Ndagire, the nurse in-charge of the maternity ward at Kibuli, said the case was the first of its kind at the hospital.
Born by caesarian, the twins weighed 4kg at birth.
“The operation was successful. The twins cried exactly after five minutes and immediately passed out urine,†Ndagire said.
She said the babies were referred to Mulago Hospital for further examination but their mother was recovering at Kibuli hospital.
Dr. Jamiir Mugalu, the head of the special care unit at Mulago, said experts were examining whether the twins shared the spine, heart, liver and kidney.
“We are ascertaining how their blood vessels are arranged so that we can know whether they require an immediate operation.â€
The babies are admitted in the intensive care unit where they are fed through tubes.
Mugalu observed that Siamese twins were not common, adding that the most recent case was of Veronica Driciru, 27, a resident of Arua, who had such twins in 2007.
They female twins, co-joined at the head and sharing a big vessel in the skull, died after 18 hours after birth, Mugalu said.
He also mentioned another case of twins born in Arua in 2001 but were successfully operated in the Unites States of America.
Kato, an art designer, said the news of the Siamese babies shocked him, because an earlier scan indicated that his wife carried twins, but not joined.
“Coming to terms with having Siamese twins hasn’t been easy, but I have received a lot of encouragement and comfort from friends and family. I love my children and I accept what God has given us,†he added.
Nakazibwe’s sister, Mastula Namubiru, however said the mother was still trying to come to terms with giving birth to co-joined twins.
“We are trying our best to comfort her, but she is still breaks down when people try to comfort her,†Namubiru said.
Nakazibwe, who will be discharged on Saturday, is a teacher at Balibabaseka Secondary School in Wakiso.