Conjoined twins ‘need to leave Yemen’
CONJOINED twin boys born in the chaos of Yemen’s war may be evacuated to Saudi Arabia for live-saving treatment, Saudi authorities said yesterday.
Abdelkhaleq and Abdelkarim were born two weeks ago in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, where the health system has collapsed under years of airstrikes and a blockade by a Saudi-led military coalition.
The tiny boys have separate heads, spines, lungs, hearts, but they share a liver, reproductive organs and a pair of kidneys, arms and legs between them.
Dr Faisal al-balbali, the head of the neonatal unit at al-thawra hospital, said their lives depended on getting treatment outside of Yemen.
“They need to travel immediately. They will not be able to survive in Yemen under the social, political and economic circumstances in this country,” he said.
Dr Balbali said his team was unable to perform basic tests, let alone conduct a complicated surgical procedure to separate the twins.
After the case began to receive international attention, Saudi authorities said they were prepared to evacuate the boys from Sanaa for treatment “as soon as possible”.
Although their bodies are joined, doctors said their immune systems were distinct.
“Even if one is unwell, the other is fine,” said Dr Balbali.
Since the war broke out between Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government in 2015, doctors in the country have reported a general rise in birth defects.
Saudi Arabia and its military allies have stopped civilian flights in or out of Sanaa airport since 2015, making it almost impossible for people to get out for medical treatment.
The UN has warned that about half of Yemen’s 28million people are living on the brink of famine.