SA specialist to examine conjoined twins

CONJOINED twins born at the Oshakati State Hospital last Monday will be transferred to Windhoek this morning, the Director of Health in the North, Dr Naftali Hamata, said yesterday.

Dr Hamata said Namibian doctors had approached a South African cardiac surgeon, Dr Rossouw, who has agreed to examine the twins in Windhoek to determine if they can be separated. Hamata said the mother, Elizabeth Paulus (35) from Iiwiyongo village near Oshakati, will accompany the twins, Monika Ngendinomuwa and Taimi Talohole.It is not known whether the father of the twins, Salomo Diogenus Shigwedha from Omege village, will also make the trip to the capital.Dr Mariela Perez, the radiologist at the Oshakati State Hospital, said earlier that an ultrasound examination showed that the twins share a heart and a liver.Around 40 per cent of conjoined twins are joined in this way.Should an operation be conducted to separate the twins, one twin will definitely die while the other might have very little chance of survival, Dr Perez said earlier.Yesterday Dr Hamata said that Namibia does not have the technology to perform such surgery, which is also very expensive.He said that the twins are in good health at present and that their mother is also doing well.Because their mother is a member of the Roman Catholic Church, the twins were baptised by Father Lukas Mosmedi on the day they were born.Hamata said the mother, Elizabeth Paulus (35) from Iiwiyongo village near Oshakati, will accompany the twins, Monika Ngendinomuwa and Taimi Talohole.It is not known whether the father of the twins, Salomo Diogenus Shigwedha from Omege village, will also make the trip to the capital.Dr Mariela Perez, the radiologist at the Oshakati State Hospital, said earlier that an ultrasound examination showed that the twins share a heart and a liver.Around 40 per cent of conjoined twins are joined in this way.Should an operation be conducted to separate the twins, one twin will definitely die while the other might have very little chance of survival, Dr Perez said earlier.Yesterday Dr Hamata said that Namibia does not have the technology to perform such surgery, which is also very expensive.He said that the twins are in good health at present and that their mother is also doing well.Because their mother is a member of the Roman Catholic Church, the twins were baptised by Father Lukas Mosmedi on the day they were born.