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Limpopo Premier Phophi Ramathuba with the team of surgeons and staff from the Mankweng Hospital
The conjoined twin boys who were born in January at Mankweng Hospital outside Polokwane have been successfully separated.
The twins were delivered by a 29-year-old mother who was transferred from Maphutha Malatjie Hospital outside Phalaborwa.
Limpopo Premier Phophi Ramathuba has praised the team of surgeons led by Pediatric Surgeon, Dr Nyaweleni Tshifularo, for the complex and delicate procedure.
The identical twins are in a stable condition and are recovering at the hospital’s neonatal ICU unit.
Ramathuba says the successful operation highlights the skill, commitment and growing capacity of medical professionals in the province.
“This operation represents a historic moment for Limpopo. For the first time in South Africa, a rural hospital has accomplished such a high scale operation. This achievement changes the landscape of healthcare in our province and reaffirm our belief in the potential of rural hospitals. It is a clear call for us all to invest resources in our rural facilities.”
Meanwhile, Dr Tshifularo says teamwork across multiple medical disciplines was key to the successful surgery which lasted more than eight hours.
He has commended the medical team for participating in the complex and high-risk operation.
“Once the babies were stabilised, we went on to do different investigations on where they are joined and how they are joined. So we set up a multidisciplinary team comprised of pediatricians, the ones that are looking after the patients, the surgeons, the ones who are going to divide them, plastic surgeons, the ones that are going to make sure that the closure is perfect, the anesthetics, the one that will make the babies sleep so that when we operate it’s easy for us. The nursing team really supported everything that we did.”
Limpopo Premier Dr Phophi Ramathuba briefs the media on the operation of conjoined twins:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoTXJ_gxJk4
