Mombasa conjoined twins yet to be flown to KNH

Conjoined twins born on Thursday morning in Mombasa are yet to be flown to Nairobi for specialised treatment because Kenyatta National Hospital does not have enough ventilators.

By Friday afternoon, the twins were still at Coast General Hospital despite earlier indications from the facility’s administration that they were to be flown to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) in the morning.

Sources said that although Amref Flying Doctors were ready to transport the babies, KNH managers said they have only one ICU bed with a ventilator and each baby needs its own breathing machine.

“We are ready to airlift the babies but the only problem is that there are no ventilators at KNH,” said the source.

Coast General Hospital's chief administrator, Iqbal Khandwalla, said the babies, who were born through caesarean section, were in a stable condition.

An Amref official said that following the development, the agency had decided to contact Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital to see if it can admit the babies as part of the non-profit organisation's corporate social responsibility, but Amref was yet to receive feedback from the health facility.

“Gertrude’s Children's Hospital have told us that they are in touch with their bosses to see if they can get approval. If all goes well, then we will depart from the Wilson airport late this evening or early Saturday morning to transport [the babies] to Nairobi,” the Amref official said.

Efforts to reach KNH spokesman Simon Ithae to comment on the possibility of admitting the conjoined twins were not fruitful.

Dr Khandwalla said the boys require a team of medical specialists, among them paediatric and plastic surgeons, to investigate the organs the conjoined twins share.

He said preliminary investigations showed the twins may be sharing a liver but each has his own heart and kidney.