Specialists to examine conjoined twins

Mpumalanga’s first set of conjoined twins were born at Matikwane Hospital near Bushbuckridge.

A full complement of specialists is expected to descend on Steve Biko Academic Hospital’s paediatric intensive care unit to examine a pair of conjoined twins from Mpumalanga.

The four-day old babies, who are attached at the pelvis and genital areas, were brought to the city on Thursday after being born at a Bushbuckridge Hospital the previous day.

Social workers had already started counselling the 18-year-old mother, Bongi Sibuyi, yesterday morning, to help her come to terms with the condition of her babies and to support her during her and their stay in hospital.

“The babies are fine. They are in good condition and they are being prepared for assessments by specialists,” hospital spokeswoman Freida Kobo said.

She said they had come in weighing 2.4kg and they shared, among other attachments, an umbilical cord. They each had a pair of legs but their genitals were not visible to determine sex.

The newborn babies are being monitored carefully pending a battery of tests, sonars, scans and X-rays. “When those are done the team will know how to proceed and if separation is possible,” she added.

“The team would have to be multi-faceted because the babies need an examination of their hip bones, their stomachs and intestines. They would have to determine if they share bladders, kidneys… they have to be well experienced,” Joburg doctor Nandi Diliza said yesterday.

Among other specialists, orthopaedic surgeons, gastroenterologists, urologists and other experts would have to be on the team. Scans, CT scans, X-rays and blood tests would have to be done to determine what the twins shared and what needed to be divided if separation was possible, Diliza said.

The mother had known that she was carrying twins, said Kobo, and the babies were born naturally.

Conjoined twins are the result of the incomplete formation of twins, where the eggs do not separate fully.

The babies are boys.

Ntando.makhubu@inl.co.za - Pretoria News Weekend