Bassey and his wife, Patience, turned to sadness when a set of
conjoined twins was born to the family on Tuesday.
The 32-year-old resident of the Federal Capital Teritory, Abuja, who
is from Itu Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, and his
30-year-old wife, are currently at a loss.
The conjoined twins were delivered at about 7 pm on July 2, 3013 at
LUNA Hospital in Gwarinpa, Abuj
a.
Bassey said, "The babies are joined fromthe stomach and chest down.
They havethree legs joined together, one liver, one kidney and one
intestine."
Ironically, the scan that was conducted didn't reveal that it was
conjoined twins.
When our correspondent visited the hospital on Friday evening, the
issue was being discussed in hushed tones.
Bassey told Saturday PUNCH that his wife was still in the hospital but
not fully recovered.
He said, "The scan was done but we were not informed that it was
conjoinedtwins. When we were told that the babies were twins, we were
all happy. For now, my wife is still in the hospital, although not
fully recovered. But she is responding to treatment."
Bassey's hopes were dashed when the management of the National
Hospital told him that they had done their best but there was no hope
that they could do the separation.
He said, "The doctors at the National Hospital said they have tried
their best, including scanning and everything they could do within
their power.
"They said there was nothing else they could do in that unit. But they
told me that if I have anywhere in the world where the babies could be
separated, they would assist and send an e-mail and refer the babies
to that place.
"At what cost? For now, they have not told me but they said they could
not dothe separation here and would not know where they could transfer
the babies," Bassey stated.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the National Hospital, Dr. Tayo
Haastrup, told Saturday PUNCH that series of procedures had been done
on the babies' state of health.
He said, "The babies were not delivered in the National Hospital. They
were delivered through a Caesarean section in a hospital somewhere in
Gwarinpa; they are fine and their mother is still in the hospital,
where she delivered the children. But the babies are now in our
Special Care Babies Unit."
When asked if any surgery had been done to separate conjoined babies,
Haastrup replied in the negative.
He said, "Surgical operation is not the issue for now; but we have
carried out some tests and other things to find out their state of
health. They are lying nowwell in SCBU as I am speaking to you."
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