The Akwa Ibom State-born unemployed
father of conjoined twins, Mr. Elisha Bassey, on Saturday called on
Governor Godswill Akpabio and other Nigerians to sponsor a medical trip
abroad where the babies would be separated.
He said, “I want to use this opportunity
to beg Good Samaritans and Nigerians to come to my aid and give me
financial support. In particular, I want my state Governor, Godswill
Akpabio, to assist me financially to make sure that my babies do not
die.
“Governor Akpabio is a nice and
kind-hearted individual. Please I am pleading with Nigerians at home and
in the Diaspora to assist me financially because I am unemployed.”
Although our correspondent was prevented
from seeing the babies, it was learnt that the conjoined twins were
doing fine at the Special Care Babies Unit in National Hospital, Abuja.
Bassey said, “The babies are okay, their
condition is better. They are responding to treatment. Apart from the
initial problems, they are eating now. The hospital said the babies
would need to be given small food, although I was not told the type of
foods they are being fed with.”
Efforts to speak with the President of
the Nigerian Medical Association, Dr. Osahon Enabulele, on why no
Nigerian hospital could separate the conjoined twins were unsuccessful
as his line was not going through.
But the President of the National
Association of Resident Doctors, Dr. Ismail Lawal, attributed it to lack
of expertise and facilities.
He said, “One factor why the separation
of conjoined twins is not easy in Nigeria is lack of facilities. The
process requires a lot of machines and experts. It also depends on the
parts of the babies that are joined together.
“If it is head to head or abdomen to
abdomen, experts and machines are needed for the separation. And such
are not readily available in Nigeria.”
The NARD President however said only one of the conjoined twins would survive because their case was complicated.
He said, “In the present case you are
talking about-sharing three legs, liver and kidneys, doing the
separation will be very difficult. At the end of the day, even if the
separation is done, only one is likely to survive.
“All these things which they share
together need a lot of expertise. I doubt if the separation can be done
in Nigeria and I have not seen any conjoined twins separated in
Nigeria.”
The twins were delivered around 7 pm on July 2, 3013 at LUNA Hospital in Gwarinpa, Abuja.
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