Saudi Arabia flies in conjoined twins for possible separation surgery

Twins' father thanks Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for their help

Powered by automated translation

Yemeni conjoined twins Yusuf and Yassin Abdulrahman arrived at King Salman Air Base in Riyadh on Monday night for possible separation surgery.

The twins and their parents were flown in from the city of Mukalla in Yemen’s Hadramawt governorate under the directive of Saudi King Salman.

The twins, who are joined at the head, were immediately taken to King Abdullah Specialist Children’s Hospital at the Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs to start the process of separation.

Medical tests will determine if the surgery is possible. The announcement of their move to the Saudi hospital was made on April 19.

Mohammed Abdulrahman, father of the twins, expressed his gratitude to King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the chance of surgery and for paying the costs of travel, surgery and accommodation.

Dr  Abdullah Al Rabeeah, adviser to the Royal Court, supervisor general of King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre and head of the conjoined twins surgical team, also thanked the kingdom’s leadership for the gesture, given the difficult circumstances in Yemen.

Yusuf and Yassin will be the 116th case to be evaluated for separation by the conjoined twins team.

So far, the country has successfully separated 48 pairs of twins from 21 countries.