Dr. Saadi Taher, director of medical services at King Abdulaziz Medical City, third left, is seen with the twins’ father Shuaeb Ibrahim, second left, and mother Fartoon Sheikh in Riyadh on Wednesday. (AN photo)

RIYADH: Huda, a Somali conjoined twin who was saved in an emergency separation surgery performed in March by a team headed by Health Minister Abdullah Al-Rabeeah at King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh, was discharged from the hospital yesterday following full recovery.

In a prenatal clinical examination in Jeddah, Somali mother Fartoon Sheikh discovered that her babies would be conjoined at birth. Sheikh and her husband Shuaeb Ibrahim sought the help of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to save their children.

In response to the appeal, King Abdullah directed King Abdulaziz Medical City to perform an emergency separation surgery on the twins soon after their delivery.

The woman was admitted to the hospital on March 26 and underwent a Caesarean section on the same day. The doctors delivered one normal baby and another dysmorphic anencephalic baby with major heart problems.

The multidisciplinary team headed by Al-Rabeeah performed the separation of the conjoined twins. As the twins had an 80 percent mortality risk, the doctors decided to save at least one baby. The medical team successfully separated Huda from her anencephalic twin.

While leaving the hospital, Ibrahim thanked King Abdullah for his magnanimity in allowing the surgery to be conducted at his expense. He gratefully recalled that Al-Rabeeah came to rescue his infant despite his busy schedule as a minister.

Al-Rabeeah performed the first separation surgery in the Kingdom on Dec. 31, 1990, at Riyadh’s King Faisal Specialist Hospital. The operation, which was successful, was performed on Saudi twin girls joined at the stomach. Since then 14 sets of conjoined twins have been successfully separated under his supervision at the King Abdulaziz Medical City run by the National Guard Health Affairs. The costs of all the operations were met by King Abdullah.

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