The Akwa Ibom State-born unemployed father of conjoined twins, Mr. Elisha Bassey, on Saturday called on Governor Godswill Akpabio and other Nigerians to sponsor a medical trip abroad where the babies would be separated.
He said, “I want to use this opportunity to beg Good Samaritans and Nigerians to come to my aid and give me financial support. In particular, I want my state Governor, Godswill Akpabio, to assist me financially to make sure that my babies do not die.
“Governor Akpabio is a nice and kind-hearted individual. Please I am pleading with Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora to assist me financially because I am unemployed.”
Although our correspondent was prevented from seeing the babies, it was learnt that the conjoined twins were doing fine at the Special Care Babies Unit in National Hospital, Abuja.
Bassey said, “The babies are okay, their condition is better. They are responding to treatment. Apart from the initial problems, they are eating now. The hospital said the babies would need to be given small food, although I was not told the type of foods they are being fed with.”
Efforts to speak with the President of the Nigerian Medical Association, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, on why no Nigerian hospital could separate the conjoined twins were unsuccessful as his line was not going through.
But the President of the National Association of Resident Doctors, Dr. Ismail Lawal, attributed it to lack of expertise and facilities.
He said, “One factor why the separation of conjoined twins is not easy in Nigeria is lack of facilities. The process requires a lot of machines and experts. It also depends on the parts of the babies that are joined together.
“If it is head to head or abdomen to abdomen, experts and machines are needed for the separation. And such are not readily available in Nigeria.”
The NARD President however said only one of the conjoined twins would survive because their case was complicated.
He said, “In the present case you are talking about-sharing three legs, liver and kidneys, doing the separation will be very difficult. At the end of the day, even if the separation is done, only one is likely to survive.
“All these things which they share together need a lot of expertise. I doubt if the separation can be done in Nigeria and I have not seen any conjoined twins separated in Nigeria.”
The twins were delivered around 7 pm on July 2, 3013 at LUNA Hospital in Gwarinpa, Abuja.
via nigerianeye
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