It takes only one brave person to blaze the trail for others to follow through. Many years ago, Ben Carson, that innovative surgeon started the mission of giving twins with complicated reports at birth, a second chance. Years later, records are now set in their numbers.
Recently, the Federal Medical Center(FMC), Yola, Adamawa, Nigeria announced the third successful surgery performed to separate conjoined twins at the hospital.
According to the news, the twins were delivered on 12th December 2019 through a caesarean section in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state. They were afterwards referred to FMC, Yola after they were discovered to be cojoined.
Many things posed a threat to their transportation to the referred hospital as it was not safe to go by land. And air, which was the best option shouldn’t be a commercial flight for many obvious though undisclosed reasons.
On 4th January 2020, at 23days old, luck smiled on the babies when the Nigerian Air Force was contacted and they were not only obliged to help but also sponsored their transport by air to Yola at no cost from the parent of the babies.
News describing the state of the children said they arrived at Adamawa safe and sound with a combined birth weight of 5.8kg. They shared a single umbilical cord and were joined from the mid thorax to the mid-abdomen with a fused liver.
Until 20th August 2020, the surgery couldn’t be undertaken as the COVID-19 pandemic breakout caused a delay. However, the operation was done and recorded successfully in its fairest form as the separated twin and their parents returned to Bayelsa state on 30th August 2020.
History has it that, in 2013 and 2018, similar surgeries, led by Prof. Auwal Abubakar, were performed on two different twins babies which also recorded tremendous success.
Professor Auwal Muhammad Abubakar is the current Medical Director of the Federal Medical Centre, (FMC) Yola. He was appointed in 2015. He is a Fellow of the West African College of Surgeons (FWACS) in Paediatric Surgery and also a Fellow of the International College of Surgeons. Abubakar is a 55-year-old man, a native of Jada Local Government Area of Adamawa State.
We celebrate this notable landmark achievement!
