MEC hails surgeons for separating twins
2013-01-20 21:24
Johannesburg - The team of surgeons who last week successfully separated a pair of conjoined twins at Steve Biko Academic Hospital, were congratulated by Gauteng Health MEC Hope Papo on Sunday.
"This breakthrough again confirms that Gauteng is the centre of medical excellence," Papo said in a statement.
The male twins, Recall and Recant Sibuyi, were separated in a complex six-hour operation at the hospital on Thursday.
The team of surgeons who planned and performed the operation are paediatric surgeon Dr Ernst Muller, paediatric urologist Dr I van Heerden and plastic surgeon Prof P Coetzee.
Paediatric surgeon Dr Marisa de Villiers, orthopaedic surgeon Dr R Goller and anaesthesiologist Dr Sandra Speijkerman were also involved in the delicate operation.
The twins were joined by multiple organs in the abdomen and pelvis.
They were admitted to Steve Biko Academic Hospital in February last year, but doctors felt that they needed to grow stronger before the separation could be performed.
Additional operations would need to be performed to their lower colons and external genitalia, when the twins have recovered.
- SAPA
