Nigerian doctors successfully separate conjoined twins

A team of doctors at the National Hospital in Abuja have successfully separated a pair of one-year old conjoined twins. 

The operation to separate sisters Goodness and Mercy Martins took place in November but lead surgeon Emannuel Ameh has only now given the girls the green light to go home.

The operation is said to have lasted 12 hours and involved 78 doctors. The procedure cost about $55,000 but the physicians did not charge for their work because the girls’ parents would not have been able to afford the medical bills. The parents, Michael Edeh and Maria Onya Martins, rely on Mr Martins’ salary as a painter to get by. 

Mr Martins said he was so happy to see his daughters alive and well, while Mrs Martins said words were not enough to thank the kindness of the doctors and hospital staff. 

The sisters were first brought to hospital shortly after their birth in August 2018, but doctors could not operate immediately as the girls were not well enough. The twins were cared for at the National Hospital for the next 15 months until the procedure could go ahead. 

Jaff Momoh, the hospital’s medical director, said that the case was particularly difficult because it was the first time such an operation had involved the lower chest wall, liver and diaphragm. 

The minister of health has since visited the hospital to congratulate the doctors and meet with the Martins family. The minister for women’s affairs has also been in touch to offer Mrs Martin a job to help support her family. 

Photo credit: Emmanuel Ameh