RIYADH: Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, head of the surgical team responsible for the separation of conjoined twins, has confirmed that the Syrian boy called Bassam is in a stable condition a week after his operation at King Abdullah Specialist Children’s Hospital.
Al-Rabeeah, who is also an advisor at the Royal Court and supervisor-general of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, said Bassam’s medical indicators are reassuring and the artificial respiration devices have been removed, adding that he recovered from the anaesthesia and began interacting with his parents regularly.
He added that Bassam will begin to breastfeed from the mouth soon, indicating that the medical team expects him to be discharged from the pediatric intensive care unit to the pediatric ward to begin rehabilitation.
According to Al-Rabeeah, the other twin, Ihsan, passed away on Wednesday due to congenital defects in the heart, in addition to the agenesis of the kidneys, the urinary and reproductive system, and a major deficiency in the intestines, all of which were known before the operation and were explained to the parents.
This operation comes under the directives of the Saudi leadership, becoming the 58th of the Kingdom’s program for separating conjoined twins. Since 1990, the program has supervised 130 cases from 23 countries.
