Saudi Arabia: Yemeni conjoined twins to be flown to Riyadh for surgery
Yousuf and Yassin to be assessed at the King Abdulaziz Medical City
Abu Dhabi: Conjoined baby twins born in war-ravaged Yemen have been ordered flown to Riyadh for separation surgery, a senior official said.
Twins Yousuf and Yassin will be flown to Riyadh in the next few days, where they will be assessed at the King Abdulaziz Medical City, Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabiah, Advisor at the Saudi Royal Court, CEO of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, was quoted by Saudi Press Agency as saying.
The twin boys were born connected at the head, a condition called craniopagus twins. Conjoined twins are already extremely rare, but craniopagus twins are even more so. Only two per cent of conjoined twins are born fused at the head. Craniopagus twins occur in approximately one in every 2.5 million births.
The twins’ parents will accompanied the babies on the trip, Dr. Al Rabiah, who also heads the medical team to conduct the surgery, said.
In February, conjoined twins born in Sana’a, Yemen, in December underwent separation surgery in Amman, Jordan.
In 2019, a pair of conjoined baby boys died in Sanaa two weeks after their birth.
Their plight had sparked a plea for urgent medical treatment overseas.