Separated Siamese twins discharged from hospital
What you need to know:
- A 58-strong team, led by paediatric surgeon Fred Kabuni, performed the 23-hour operation on November 1, 2016.
- The two years the conjoined twins had been at the referral hospital were meant for them to gain strength and develop sufficient muscles.
The Siamese twins separated at Kenyatta National Hospital have been discharged, nearly eight months after the delicate and historic surgery.
Blessing Kathure and Favour Karimi were admitted to the Specialised Surgical Paediatric Ward on September 5, 2014.
The only other time the girls left the hospital was on February 14 this year, for a Valentine’s Day treat at the Kenya Wildlife Service Animal Orphanage in Nairobi.
A 58-strong team, led by paediatric surgeon Fred Kabuni, performed the 23-hour operation, the first of its kind in the East Africa region, on November 1, 2016.
The two-year-old twins had been at the referral hospital for more than two years to allow them to gain strength and develop sufficient muscles.
It was also to allow for the meticulous planning of how to separate the girls, whose spines and lower back had fused such that, although each had her own gut, they shared the anus and genitals.
A press briefing today will “highlight the journey of the separated twins and the lessons learnt leading to their successful recovery,” said KNH Communication Manager Simon Ithai.
The twins were born through normal delivery on September 4, 2014 at St Theresa’s Mission Hospital in Kiirua, Meru County.
