A photo taken on Dec. 18, 2020, shows newly-born conjoined twins lying in an incubator at the Al-Sabeen Hospital in Sanaa, Yemen. Doctors said the twins need to go abroad for a complicated operation to separate them. (Photo by Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua)
The twins need an urgent operation to be separated, but the lack of medical personnel and necessary equipment made such an operation in Yemen impossible.
SANAA, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Doctors at a hospital in Sanaa, Yemen's capital, said a pair of newborn conjoined twins need to be sent abroad for a life-saving operation, local media reported Friday.
Authorities at the Al-Sabeen Hospital said a 30-year-old woman on Wednesday gave birth to the conjoined twins, who are attached to each other on the chest and abdomen, according to the Houthi-controlled Saba News Agency.
The mother's condition is stable, said the hospital, but the twins are in critical condition, and have been placed inside an incubator.
The twins need an urgent operation to be separated, but the lack of medical personnel and necessary equipment made such an operation in Yemen impossible, said doctors at the hospital.
A photo taken on Dec. 18, 2020, shows newly-born conjoined twins lying in an incubator at the Al-Sabeen Hospital in Sanaa, Yemen. Doctors said the twins need to go abroad for a complicated operation to separate them. (Photo by Mohammed Mohammed/Xinhua)
The hospital called on international organizations to help the twins go abroad.
Nearly six years of war and blockade have plunged Yemen deep into one of the world's worst humanitarian crises and brought the country's health system down on the brink of collapse.
Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the internationally-recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa. ■
