Sudanese conjoined twins to be separated on Saturday in Riyadh

Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah

RIYADH: Sudanese conjoined twins, who were flown to Riyadh from Khartoum, will be separated here by a medical team headed by Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah on Saturday.
The twins, Rammah and Waddah, will be separated by a multidisciplinary medical team consisting of 28 doctors from various medical specialties such as anesthesia, pediatric surgery, pediatric urology, plastic surgery and pediatric orthopedic surgery, as well as nursing and support departments, at the King Abdullah Specialty Children’s Hospital, King Abdul Aziz Medical City, Ministry of National Guard-Health Affairs in the capital.
Speaking to newsmen, Al-Rabeeah explained that Rammah and Waddah arrived in Riyadh a few weeks ago from Sudan.
"The twins underwent intensive medical checkups and tests to set up a plan for the separation procedure,” he said, recalling that after the initial examination, the medical team found that the twins weighed 18 kg and are joined at the abdomen and pelvis, and each twin has one lower limb in addition to sharing a deformed third limb.
The surgery on Saturday, he said is expected to last 15 hours through nine phases and expected to have a success rate up to 70 percent.
The parents of the twins are extremely appreciative and truly thankful to the fatherly gesture and generosity of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman.
Saudi Arabia has a team of top surgeons in the separation of twins with the experience of treating twins from several countries. Besides the Kingdom, the twins have come from Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Egypt, Pakistan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Poland, Morocco and Iraq.
Al-Rabeeah, who is the president of medical and surgical team in separating conjoined twins, was the former health minister and is currently the general supervisor of the King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Aid. He is a reputable surgeon in the Kingdom in the separation of conjoined twins. He has been the pioneer of separation surgeries in the Kingdom.
The separation of conjoined twins is carried out on directives issued by the king and all expenses of surgery and the related costs are borne by the Saudi government as a humanitarian gesture.
In 2014, a pair of Sudanese conjoined twins, Mamdooh and Mahmood, was successfully separated here. The parents of the twins were extremely appreciative and thankful to the late King Abdullah for his fatherly gesture and generosity, as well as to the medical team for the successful outcome of the separation.