Riyadh: A team of doctors at the King Abdullah Specialist Children’s Hospital (KASCH) in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh on Thursday, June 6, started a 7.5 hour surgery to separate a Filipino conjoined twins.
The 17-month-old twins— Akhizah and Ayeesha Yusoph— are conjoined at the lower chest and abdomen, sharing a liver.
They have a combined weight of 18 kilograms, each with a complete set of upper and lower limbs.
On May 5, the twins arrived with their mother and grandmother via a Saudi Ministry of Defense medical evacuation aircraft.
The surgery, supervised by head of the medical team, Dr Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah, is in accordance with the directives of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
After reviewing the twins’ condition, the team determined that a successful separation is achievable
The surgery is expected to take 7.5 hours and will be performed over five phases with a team of more than 20 doctors, specialists, and technical and nursing staff.
The Saudi government will cover all costs associated with the girls’ surgery and recovery.
This surgery is the 61st case within the Saudi program for separating conjoined twins since 1990, and the program has studied and evaluated 136 cases from 26 countries
