RIYADH: Algerian conjoined twins Ekram and Sarah were successfully separated at Riyadh's National Guard Hospital Thursday. Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeah, Minister of Health, led the marathon operation with a team of doctors that started the surgical procedure early Thursday. The reconstruction of incisions was started after the conjoined twins were separated at 5:15 P.M. It took about 12 hours to complete the surgical operation. The Algerian conjoined twins accompanied with their parents arrived from Algeria on March 2 after King Abdullah's directive for the surgical operation. Dr. Al-Rabeah, who is also chairman of the surgical team, conducted a series of clinical tests before setting up multi-disciplinary surgical team that met to decide upon the scheduled separation. Al-Habeeb Adami, Ambassador of Algeria, thanked the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for his humanitarian gesture. The twins' parents also thanked King Abdullah, who, they said, has ‘become a symbol of hope for many children around the world'. Earlier, the marathon surgery was conducted in eight various phases that include multidisciplinary medical experts from areas such as urology, pediatric, neurosurgery, orthopedics and plastic surgery for reconstruction of incisions. Phase 1 of the surgical operation started at about 7.30 A.M. with a team that administered anesthesia. The National Guard Health Affairs in Riyadh has so far seen a total number of 48 sets of conjoined twins from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen, Egypt, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, Morocco, Iraq, Cameroon, Oman and Syria. The Algerian twins were conjoined at vagina, urethra, anus and lower part of the rectum. It took about three hours for the surgical team to separate spinal cord, which started in the phase 6 by the neurosurgical medical experts.
