Medics at Soroti Regional Referral hospital have said that the surviving Amuria siamese twin has recovered and is completely out of danger.
Last month, the doctors successfully separated a dead conjoined twin from her living sibling. The twins were delivered by caesarean section at Amuria health centre IV in Amuria district in northern Uganda to Joyce Alinga, a 21-year-old who conceived during the long COVID-19 lockdown.
But moments after the caesarean birth, one of the twins was found dead while the other was still alive, prompting medics in Amuria to refer the children to Soroti hospital for possible detachment. But the team in Soroti also referred the family to Mulago National Referral hospital.
However, the family failed to secure an appointment with medics to carry out an operation on the children - forcing the family to return to Soroti hospital with the living conjoined twin able to stay alive for six days while stuck to the other dead baby. Successful surgery was conducted to save the life of the second twin.
Dr Joseph Epodoi, the lead surgeon at Soroti hospital who was among the team who carried out the successful operation says that the surviving twin is now out of danger. He explains that the surviving twin had holes in the heart but after carrying out a cardiologist test, it was discovered that the holes have since healed.
According to Dr Epodoi, the baby is reported to be doing well and is likely to be discharged soon. Dr Michael Mwanga the Soroti hospital director maintained that there is no cause of alarm regarding the health of the child. According to Dr Mwanga, doctors at the hospital did their best to carry out all the necessary tests and ensure that the child does not have a heart problem.
"The child is okay, there is no problem with the heart. We did a lot of investigations and we have proven beyond reasonable doubt that there is no heart issue right now," says Mwanga.
Two weeks ago, parliament honoured the 15-member medical team of the hospital, for successfully conducting the surgery. Speaker of parliament, Rebecca Kadaga said that the names of the medics will be submitted to the national medal awards committee for consideration.
The MPs also said that since the hospital only operates at 40 per cent of its capacity, they asked the government to rehabilitate and equip it.
Source
