Plans are now in progress for conjoined twins Azaria and Azora Elson, to undergo life-changing surgery in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The toddlers will get the separation surgery under the Saudi Programme for Separating Conjoined Twins.
The development follows the intervention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, which facilitated talks between the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) where the children are being treated and Saudi Arabian government officials.
The Elson twins and their mother, Iesha McMurray, were recently paid visit by Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Jamaica, Dr Waleed bin Abdulrahman Alhamoudi and Foreign Affairs Minister, Senator, Kamina Johnson Smith.
The Ambassador was in Jamaica for Diplomatic Week, which was observed under the theme “Building Partnerships for a Sustainable Future”.
During the UHWI visit, he offered encouragement to the twin’s mother, assuring her that they will receive the care needed in his country.
In providing a history on the Elson twins, Professor of Paediatrics at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Celia Christie-Samuels, noted that they were diagnosed in pregnancy at the nation's maternity hospital.
Their mother was then transferred to the UHWI, where the babies were delivered via caesarean section at 35 weeks gestation by Dr Nadine Johnson and Dr Tiffany Hunter-Graves.
The professor explained that Azaria and Azora are Omphalopagus conjoined twins, which means they are joined at the abdomen. The girls share a liver.
“The babies spent about eight months in the newborn intensive care unit, and for the last eight months, they have been on the general paediatric wards with us. They have been under the care of neonatologists, paediatric residents, nurses, and others,” the professor explained.
She noted that the toddlers have had many challenges since their birth. Azaria is slightly underweight for her age and had a heart lesion which is now closed.
Professor Christie-Samuels said Azora is similarly underweight, has several congenital heart abnormalities and is in heart failure.
She added that “both girls also have extra heartbeats from what we call the atrium, the smaller parts of the heart, and both of them have abnormal function of the thyroid gland.”
The professor noted that the twin’s condition is rare, occurring in approximately one in every 50,000 – one in every 150,000 babies worldwide.
“Essentially, what happens is that the cost of care is about US$2 million to $4.5 million in first world settings. Therefore, what happens is that neither Jamaica nor mom or the family have the support systems to pay for this (surgery),” she outlined.
The Saudi Programme for Separating Conjoined Twins has separated 62 pairs of conjoined twins from around the world, the latest operation happening just last month with conjoined twins from Burkina Faso.
