Conjoined twins separated at Mulago start breastfeeding

A day after a successful landmark separation of two conjoined twins, Mulago National Referral Hospital is celebrating another milestone. The twins who were separated have started breastfeeding. 

Dr Rosemary Byanyima, the deputy executive director of the hospital, shared the good news with the New Vision on Wednesday saying, "The twins have woken up and have started breastfeeding." 

The twins, born conjoined by at the pelvis, were successfully separated by a team of over 20 specialist medics, selected carefully for the complicated operation. The procedure took medics 20 hours to complete. 

This is the country's first successful operation to be done on conjoined twins within the country. However, it's not the first for Ugandan medics.

In 2013, two Ugandan Siamese twins were successfully separated in Egypt by Ugandan medics. The specialist surgeons took the twins to Egypt because the country lacked the proper infrastructure for the highly delicate procedure. The twins are now seven years old. 

The 2013 team also included Dr John Sekabira, a senior consultant pediatric surgeon who led the operation of the twins at Mulago Hospital. 

He said the hospital will continue monitoring the twins and after six months, they will undergo another surgical procedure to reconstruct the urethra and rectum. The medics will also construct a vagina for one of the twins.

Medical investigations done on the Siamese twins found that they shared the rectum, urethra, and uterus. One of the twins had no uterus and the vagina was not fully formed.