Conjoined Nigerian twins separated after 14-hour surgery in Saudi Arabia

Surgeons in Saudi Arabia have successfully separated Hassanah and Hussaina, the conjoined Nigerian twins.

The surgery began on Thursday at the King Abdullah Specialist Hospital for Children and was said to have lasted for 14 hours.

The procedure involved eight different phases and a team of 35 doctors, medical experts and nurses.

Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Rabeeah, supervisor-general of King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, and leader of the surgical team, said following the separation, the reconstruction process has begun.

“We still have a couple of hours left for the reconstruction process, but thanks God the decisive phase has passed,” he said.

The twins, who were born in January 2022 at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Kaduna, were conjoined at the abdomen, pelvis, liver, intestines, urinary and reproductive systems and pelvic bones areas.

They were moved to the National Hospital in Abuja, where they stayed for about eight months without undergoing surgery due to lack of funds.

The government of Saudi Arabia, however, offered free surgery to the family.

Hassana and Hussaina, accompanied by their parents, arrived in Saudi Arabia on December 8, 2022, on an air medical evacuation plane.

The twins’ separation is the 56th carried out by Saudi Arabia’s humanitarian programme in 33 years.