Doctors ponder rising cases of Siamese twins

Health officials are trying to understand the prevalence of Siamese twins in Mombasa’s South Coast in the past two years.

One doctor, Dr Twahir Hamed has linked the biological phenomenon to nutrition deficiency.

On Saturday, Siamese twins were born in Tiwi District hospital joined from the chest to the hips but sharing a heart, liver and umbilical cord.

The new conjoined twins have peaked interest in the phenomenon in the area. There have been three one similar births in the last three years.

Dr Hamed from Coast General Hospital said increasing cases of Siamese might be caused by nutritional deficiencies and environmental changes.

Need to investigate

Dr Hamed said such cases have been on the increase and there is need to investigate the causes.

“Scientifically, Siamese twins result when an embryo starts to divide, but fails to complete the process.

“They are formed when identical twinning goes awry and this might be caused by different environmental factors which we are now investigating,” said Dr Hamed.

Saturday’s Siamese twins were born together with the third child who is in good condition but the conjoined ones died at Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi, where they were undergoing specialised medical care.

The two children were sharing an umbilical cord, heart, lungs and several important organs making the matter complicated for the doctors.