Conjoined Yemeni twin boys flown to Jordan for separation surgery
- ‘Following weeks of arrangements … they are now in the safe hands of a team of expert surgeons,’ said Unicef’s representative to Yemen
- The twins’ 35-year-old mother and father had accompanied the babies on the trip, Unicef said
Conjoined baby twins born in war-ravaged Yemen were taken to Jordan on Saturday for separation surgery, the United Nations children’s agency said, almost two months after a hospital warned they were in critical condition.
Born in the Yemeni capital Sanaa in mid-December, “an echocardiogram showed that each of the two children had their own heart, though the position of the heart of one of them is not normal,” Majda al-Khatib, director of Al-Sabeen hospital, said at the time.
The facility’s “low capacity” prevented doctors from accurately determining “which organs are connected”, she added.
Unicef said Saturday that the twins “have been medically evacuated this morning to Amman, Jordan, where they will undergo a separation surgery”.
“Following weeks of arrangements … they are now in the safe hands of a team of expert surgeons. We hope to see them back soon in Sanaa in good health,” Philippe Duamelle, Unicef representative to Yemen, was quoted as saying in a statement.
The Yemeni capital has been controlled since 2014 by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who are fighting an internationally recognised government that is supported by a Saudi-led military coalition.
