Filipino conjoined twins to undergo separation surgery in Saudi Arabia

A pair of conjoined twins from Davao del Norte will travel to Saudi Arabia on Sunday, May 5, for separation surgery. 

A Saudi medical team was dispatched to the Philippines to fetch Akhizah and Ayeesha Yusoph, who are one year and four months old and share a liver. 

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will cover the costs of the operation as well as accommodation for their relatives during the treatment period, Riyadh's ambassador to the Philippines, Hisham bin Sultan Al-Qahtani, said.

The surgery's date is still unclear. 

Hashima, the 19-year-old mother of the girls, admitted that although she prayed for the operation's success, she was anxious about her twins' upcoming surgery. 

“Ang dinadasal ko lang talaga ay maging successful yung maging operation nila. Kasi halo-halo na yung emosyon namin, may kaba, masaya, hindi na po namin alam kung anong mararamdaman namin,” she said in an interview with GMA News Online on Friday. 

(All I really pray for is for the operation to be successful. We have mixed emotions. We are nervous, we are happy—we don't know what we will feel anymore.)

For Hashima, raising conjoined twins has been challenging.

“Nahirapan ako kasi bilang ina, hindi ko alam kung anong gagawin kong pag-aalaga sa kanila kasi nga conjoined sila, hindi sila normal na bata. Hindi ko in-expect na magkakaanak ako ng ganito. Pero hindi ko rin naisip na ipapalaglag o hahayaan ko sila. Tanggap ko naman,” Hashima, a single parent, said. 

(I am having a hard time since, as a mother, I didn't know how to take care of them because they are conjoined; they are not normal children. I didn't expect to have children like them. But I also never thought of aborting or abandoning them. I accepted the situation.)

Hashima then thanked the Saudi government for their assistance.

“Nagpapasalamat po ako, kami, kasi pinayagan nila kaming operahan yung kambal namin. Tinulungan po nila kami, sobrang saya po,” Hashima added. 

(I am thankful, and we are thankful because they will perform an operation on our twins. They helped us, and I am very happy.)

"We support this humanitarian action of the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We appreciate this," Department of Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Mardomel Celo Melicor added. 

Saudi Arabia has been known to be a pioneer in the field of separating conjoined twins, having performed more than 133 operations for various nationalities, including the separation of Filipino conjoined twins Ann and Mae Manzo in 2004.

"The medical achievement is attributed to the continuous efforts of the wise leadership in developing the healthcare sector and providing a conducive environment for innovation and development in the field of medicine, making the Kingdom a global hub for advanced surgical operations," Al-Qahtani said.

According to the Mayo Clinic, ''conjoined twins develop when an early embryo only partially separates to form two individuals.''

''Some surviving conjoined twins can be surgically separated. The success of surgery depends on where the twins are joined and how many and which organs are shared. It also depends on the experience and skill of the surgical team,'' the renowned United States-based hospital said. — VBL, GMA Integrated News