UTH not in a hurry to separate Siamese twins

THE University Teaching Hospital is set for a major operation to separate Siamese twins joined at the abdomen, says senior medical superintendent Clerence Chiluba.

Dr Chiluba said they were however not in a hurry to do the operations which required that the children were allowed enough time grow to support the medical procedure. He said although the operation was not a complicated procedure, the hospital still needed time to allow the children grow up to a level where they were no longer tiny, but had enough flesh and skin for the operation.

“We are not in a hurry. We should be doing it in the next couple of weeks or so.

“You don’t rush when you need time to do. It is not a complicated operation but we need them to grow up and have enough skin because we need to fill up the defects, like skin, where do we get the skin from if they are too tiny?” he said.

Dr Chiluba said baby Mapa- lo and her identical twin sister, Bupe were both doing very well and remain on observation at UTH until after the operation scheduled to be carried out soon.

Dr Chiluba explained that the hospital had adequately prepared for the medical procedure to separate the two girls, but that they would not be pushed to playing to the public gallery as to when to do it. He said the parents seem to be growing tired of living at the health facility since the children’s admission about six months ago, but that UTH being the healthcare provider, they were not in a hurry to undertaking the medical operation on the conjoined twins.

The twins are now about eight months old and should be ready to undergo the life changing operation expected to separate their tiny joined bodies.

This is a breakthrough in Zambian medicine with a team of medical experts that was constituted to prepare for the delicate operation to separate the siamese twins joined on the stomach.

The children were transferred from Kawambwa.