KZN-born conjoined twins receiving priority care at Durban hospital

The twin girls, who are conjoined at the chest and abdomen, were born to a 31-year-old mother at their home in Pongola, northern KZN, at the weekend.

They were airlifted to Durban's Inkosi Albert Central Luthuli Hospital, shortly after their birth.

While the twins share certain organs - including a liver, they have separate hearts and lungs, which doctors say makes the likelihood of a separation less complicated.

KZN Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo visited the twins at the Albert Luthuli Hospital today. They are currently in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. 

Dhlomo expressed his full confidence that the newborns will receive the highest level of healthcare at the hospital. He was also briefed by surgeons that each twin was comfortable and breathing on her own, and currently being fed intravenously. 

Doctors have indicated that they will wait until the girls are a few months older, before attempting any form of surgery.

“They’re not going to make any decision, good as they may be, without involving the family. The family component, culturally, will be much of the planning going forward,” Dhlomo said, adding that the National Health Insurance would cover the cost of the operations - estimated to cost millions.

The news of the KZN-born conjoined twins comes just hours after doctors in the US successfully separated 13-month-old twin boys, who were conjoined at the head.

Doctors at the Children's Hospital at New York-based Montefiore Medical Center spent 16-hours separating the brothers, in a procedure which involved the reconstruction of both their skulls.