Jamaican conjoined twins successfully separated in Saudi Arabia after complex 5-hour surgery

Jamaica: Conjoined twins Azora and Azaria from Jamaica were successfully separated by the surgical team of the King Salman Humanitarian Mission in Saudi Arabia. The five-hour surgery was closely observed virtually by their Jamaican medical team and other specialists.

While one twin will require further surgery for an unrelated heart defect, both girls are currently stable, reported the doctors. The families and teams involved are expressing gratitude for the prayers and support received from across Jamaica.

The twins were separated during a five-hour long surgery on Thursday. According to the information by the Jamaica Government Services, the two-year-old twins along with their mother Iesha McMurray as well as a team of medical professionals departed Jamaica on July 27 to undergo the life-changing separation surgery.

Following the successful operation, Minister of foreign affairs of Jamaica, Kamina Johnson Smith, announced in an official statement that the procedure was successful. She thanked everyone who prayed for the two girls and said that they were separated by the skillful surgical team of the King Salman Humanitarian mission.

The Minister added that the members of the Jamaican medical team as well as the representatives from the wider surgical teams also observed the entire procedure through video call.

Notably, the twin girls shared a lower chest, liver as well as abdomen and possibly also intestines and pericardium. The head of the surgical team, Dr Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, also expressed his satisfaction following the surgery and explained that the balloons were placed under the twins’ skin to slowly stretch it which further enabled the surgical team to cover the gap after separation.

The complex separation procedure was undertaken by a team of 25 medical professionals including specialists in anaesthesia, nursing, plastic surgery and paediatric surgery. This surgery also represents the 67^th procedure performed through the Saudi Programme for separating conjoined twins which is a humanitarian initiative that has supported 152 sets of twins from across the 28 nations in more than three decades.