Saudi team ready to treat conjoined Yemeni twins

A Saudi medical team has offered to treat Yemeni conjoined twins following a plea from doctors in Yemen’s blockaded capital for the newborns to receive specialist care abroad. Abdelkhaleq and Abdelkarim were born outside Sanaa around 10 days ago and share a kidney and a pair of legs but have separate hearts and lungs.

The head of paediatrics at Sanaa’s Al-Thawra hospital, Dr Faisal al-Babili, said his department lacked the facilities to treat or separate the newborns and appealed on Wednesday for help from abroad. Late on Wednesday, the head of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Aid and Relief Centre, Abdullah al-Rabeeah, said he had a team that was prepared to treat them.

He said arrangements were being made to transport Abdelkhaleq and Abdelkarim from Sanaa to the kingdom “as soon as possible”, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. Rabeeah said the team would study the possibility of separating them.