Second pair of Siamese twins has three legs, share liver

By Violet Nabatanzi

THE second pair of Siamese twins admitted at Mulago Hospital is sharing the liver and the babies have three legs, this is according investigations done by senior doctors.

The twins were born to a 19 year old Maclin Mwesige and Collin Atuhairwe 18, from Buswekera village, Hoima Municipality on the 1st of October. The babies were delivered through caesarian section at Hoima Regional Referral Hospital.

A senior pediatric consultant surgeon Dr. John Sekabira said the babies also have three kidneys and are sharing the lower part of the body up to the pelvis.

“One of the twins is very abnormal and is probably affecting the normal one and the heart is having abnormalities” Sekabira said in an interview.

Atuhairwe said she was shocked when she delivered the Siamese twins because she never expected that in life. 

“Although I went to an antenatal clinic when I was five months pregnant, I still didn’t expect to give birth to such babies,” Atuhairwe said.

She said her babies are not in good health and she doesn’t breast feed because she lacks enough breast milk.

Atuhairwe's husband who is a senior four candidate is not around to nurse his babies since he is sitting his final exams.

Meanwhile, Sekabira said the first pair of conjoined twins from Soroti is in good health. The female twins were born to a 19 year old, Esther Akello and Dennis Ojagwo at Soroti Regional Hospital. 

The babies currently weigh 3kgs each and were delivered through caesarian section. The couple now has five children.

He said the three months old twins will be separated when they have gained enough weight Dr. Nasser Kakembo also a pediatric surgeon said “The twins are sharing the sacral bone (lower end of the back bone), and the rest of the body organs of the babies are separate.”

The experts recently carried out emergency surgery to the babies to create temporary anal openings on the abdomen, to enable them pass stool, since they did not have a normal anal opening.

Mulago Hospital has treated several pairs of conjoined twins including those from Kabale District who were in 2011 successfully separated in Cairo.

Trevor Bainomugisha and Timothy Bainomugisha were born on June 10 conjoined to parents Dennis Owomugisha and Rosette Tusiime in Kekubo, Kabale Municipality in Western Uganda.