| Wednesday, 22nd June, 2011 |
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| The Siamese twins from Kabale in an incubator at Mulago Hospital. A team of 10 doctors is set to separate them |
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THE Siamese twins who were born recently in Kabale are to be separated at Mulago Hospital. A team of 10 health experts are expected to carry out the operation.
The experts include the hospitals deputy executive director, Doreen Male, the hospitals spokesperson, Dan Kimosho, said.
He said doctors are waiting for the babies, who are currently in Mulago to weigh 10 kilogrammes before the operation is carried out.
The male babies born to 24-year-old Rosette Tusiime of Kekubo in Kabale municipality are joined at the abdomen.
Kimosho said examinations showed that their body parts and organs are close to each other but are separate.
He clarified that the twins do not share a liver as previously reported. Kimosho, however, said the operation would be expensive.
I appeal to well-wishers to give financial support so that the lives of these babies are saved, he said.
Tusiime said the babies are feeding normally and are in good condition. This will be the first time such an operation will be conducted in Uganda.
Medical experts explain that cases of Siamese twins are a result of failure by identical embryo to separate.
Siamese twins are genetically identical and are, therefore, the same sex. They develop from the same fertilised egg and share the same amniotic cavity and placenta.
The developing embryo starts to split into identical twins during the first few weeks after conception, but stops before the process is complete.
The partially separated egg develops into a conjoined fetus. They are called Siamese because the first conjoined twins to be successfully separated were from Siam (Thailand).
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