Story By: Lee Bullen, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
Baby twins conjoined at the head have been flown from war-torn Yemen to Saudi Arabia to undergo separation surgery.
Twins Yassin and Yousuf will be assessed at the King Abdulaziz Medical City Hospital in the Saudi capital Riyadh by Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabiah, CEO of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre. The doctor is also reportedly an advisor to the Saudi Royal Court.
The Journal of Neurosurgery said craniopagus twins, where the children share a portion of the same skull, is a very rare phenomenon.
King Salman of Saudi Arabia invited the family to undergo surgery in the country, which started separation operations on conjoined twins in 1990, and the twins’ father accompanied them, according to the newspaper Gulf News.
As part of the Saudi National Programme for Separating Conjoined Twins, over 100 patients from 21 different countries have been examined and over 50 separation operations have been conducted so far.
According to various studies, conjoined twins happen once every 200,000 births and are mostly female.
Most cases have been reported in Latin America, Central Africa and Southeast Asia because of an increased rate of identical twins among the populations, a key factor in the birth rate of conjoined twins.
