A 34-year-old mother has given birth to Siamese twins at Kabarole Hospital bringing the number of conjoined twins to four sets in two years countrywide.
The caesarian section operation was carried out by Dr Loy Byaruhanga and Dr Richard Ssekitoleko yesterday in Fort Portal Town. The doctors said the mother and the twins are in a good condition.
Daily Monitor could not talk to the mother, Ms Justine Kyarisiima, because she was still under anaesthesia. The babies, both girls, share the umbilical cord on the abdomen and have been referred to Mulago National Referral Hospital for better management.
Mulago bound
“We have decided to refer the babies to Mulago hospital for management because all the referral hospitals in Kabarole can’t manage Siamese cases,” said Mr Kasukaali Methuselah, the hospital administrator.
The father, Mr Samson Turyatemba, said the family hails from Rugaga village, Rwimi in Kabarole District. The mother was admitted to Kabarole hospital on Tuesday.
Mr Turyatemba said the mother has been getting antenatal services at the rural Rwimi Health Centre III and at Virika Hospital in Fort Portal Town. “It is at Virika that the doctors told us that the mother had twins but could not establish that they were Siamese until today when the mother failed to give birth normally and was subjected to caesarian,” said Mr Turyatemba. The twins are the fifth birth for Ms Kyarisiima. Conjoined twins (also known as Siamese twins) are identical twins whose bodies are joined.
Survival rate
The overall survival rate for conjoined twins is approximately 25 per cent and the condition is more frequently found among females. Conjoined twins are said to occur once in every 200,000 live births.
Many are not separable, depending on how they are joined. One twin often usually dies in order to save the other since they often share some organs, commonly the liver, diaphragm and the heart.
A set of conjoined twins born in Kumi District died early this year, three months after they were born.
The female twins shared a liver and a heart which made it difficult to be separated. Another set of nine-months-old Siamese twins from Ngora District also died in March after Mulago hospital health workers raised concerns that an operation to separate them would put one baby at risk of death.
The twin girls also shared one heart and liver but were separate at the head and from the pelvic bone downwards. However, the Kabale conjoined twins born last year were successfully separated at a hospital in Cairo, Egypt, and are still surviving seven months after the operation. They stayed in Mulago for a while.
Source: Daily Monitor