Conjoined Twins Successfully Separated By 78 Nigerian Medical Practitioners.
A set of conjoined twins, Goodness and Mercy Martins were successfully separated in a 12-hour surgery by a team of 78 Nigerian Medical experts at the National Hospital in Abuja.
The twins were delivered at the Federal Medical Hospital, Keffi, Nasarawa State on August 13, 2018, before they were referred to the National Hospital, Abuja.
According to Prof Emmanuel Ameh, the Chief Surgeon that led the team of doctors who performed the operation, the surgery to separate the twins happened in November last year, however, details have just been released by the hospital to ensure there were no post-surgery complications.
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The twins were received on August 14, 2018, and a team consisting of cardiac surgeons, pediatric surgeons, plastic surgeons, nurses, imaging exports, dermatologists and inter-disciplinary teams with other experts from various medical disciplines were assembled together to ensure the success of the separation.
The twins had their intestines bulging out of the lower part of the tummy, which was quickly resolved.
They had two separate hearts that were normal, but with a common cover. They also shared the lower half of the chest and there was only one liver serving the two of them and other organs were separate and normal.
In a briefing held to announce the successful operation, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, the Minister of Health, while speaking said the surgery was an indication that Nigerian hospitals were ready to compete with the best in the world.
The minister stated that “This is a demonstration of excellent teamwork, which also shows that with confidence in the health sector, we can do great things in Nigeria. The ability of these experts to work together means that we can compare ourselves to international hospitals, as far as advanced surgery is concerned”.
This is such wonderful news and its only right for us to applaud the medical practitioners that achieved such greatness, especially since it’s not the first time that conjoined twins were separated in a similar operation in a Nigerian hospital. A team of surgeons successfully separated four-month-old conjoined twins at the Federal Medical Centre, Yola on May 14, 2018.
On June 11, 2018, the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital also announced that it has separated a conjoined twin referred to the Centre from the St. Mary Catholic Hospital, Gwagwalada, Abuja.