UAE: Mom hopes for surgery for conjoined twins
Pakistani expat couple cannot afford operation needed to separate their two daughters
Sharjah: A mother of conjoined twins connected at the pelvis hopes for help to separate her newborn daughters.
According to medical staff, the twins can be surgically separated when they become one year old, and the operation will cost around Dh1 million.
The twins’ mother Sumaiya Albalushi told Gulf News: “I’ve sent an appeal to humanitarian agencies to help us separate the twins.”
Her husband is a sales executive earning Dh5,000 per month. The couple said they cannot afford the cost of the surgery.
Albalushi gave birth by caesarean section at a hospital in Sharjah on November 20.
The twins are the first children of the Pakistani couple. When the mother was pregnant she did not experience any specific symptoms related to the conjoined twins and an ultrasound scan did not clearly show them as conjoined. However when she gave birth they discovered the babies are attached to each other.
Currently, the twins are in the ICU (intensive care unit) at the hospital. A medical team carried out an urgent surgery on them as there is no hole for passing stool.
The twins will be out of the ICU after 10 days and will be discharged from hospital after one month.
Medical staff said the separation surgery depends on the situation. These cases are rare and the case must be planned well before separation. The weight of the twins must be appropriate and bodily functions must work well.
After the separation, the twins will need to stay a month in hospital.
The medical staff are working to educate and train the mother in how to care for the twins.