RIYADHI, Saudi Arabia: TWO-year-old conjoined twins Hassan and Hussein Saidi from Kifurumo Village of Igunga District in Tabora underwent a 16-hour live surgical separation in Riyadhi, Saudi Arabia on Thursday.
Hassan and Hussein left Tanzania to Riyadh on August 23, this year by private jet after being admitted at the Muhimbili National Hospital for about two years.
The operation which kicked off at around 6 am was performed over nine phases by a team of 35 doctors, specialists, and technical and nursing staff at the King Abdullah Specialist Children’s Hospital in the King Abdulaziz Medical City under the Ministry of National Guard.
The world got a chance to witness the entire procedure which was broadcast live by Al Ekhbariya TV which is Saudi Arabia national operated Arabic satellite television channel.
The Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Tanzania wrote on their X handle (formerly Twitter) yesterday that the surgical separation of Hassan and Hussein had begun today (yesterday) at the King Abdullah Specialist Children’s Hospital in the King Abdulaziz Medical City under the Ministry of National Guard.
Reports from the Saudi Press Agency indicated that the medical team will carry out the surgery under the supervision of the Advisor at the Royal Court, the General Supervisor of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) Dr Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabeeah.
“The two-year-old conjoined twins weigh 13.5 kilograms together. The surgery will be the 59th on the list of the Saudi programme for separating conjoined twins, whereas it has supervised 133 cases from 24 countries since 1990,” noted the report.
As the twins were flown to Riyadh about two months ago, the Acting Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Tanzania Mr Alharbi observed that the support to the conjoined twins is in response to the directives of the Kingdom’s leadership.
“This is the continuation of our country’s support in the area of humanitarian assistance. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been keen on providing such assistance and is internationally recognised as one of the key countries responding to humanitarian crises particularly in the area of separating conjoined twins,” said Acting Ambassador Alharbi.
He extended appreciation to the Kingdom’s leadership for their invaluable support to the many children across the world including Tanzania.
He, however, thanked President Samia Suluhu Hassan for her leadership and ensuring the conjoined twins receive medical care.
