PLANS are now in train for conjoined twins Azaria and Azora Elson to undergo life-changing surgery in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The toddlers are set to embark on a journey to King Abdullah Specialist Children’s Hospital in Riyadh for 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 paid a visit by ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Jamaica, Dr Waleed bin Abdulrahman Alhamoudi, and Foreign Affairs Minister Senator Kamina Johnson Smith at the UHWI in Kingston last Thursday.

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 twins’ mother, assuring her that they will receive the care needed in his country. Dr Alhamoudi also thanked Johnson Smith and her team for facilitating the dialogue that led to the arrangement.

Meanwhile, Johnson Smith expressed gratitude to the ambassador and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for agreeing to fund the twins’ surgery and for the philanthropic work that the nation has done to support those in need.

She also thanked the members of the medical team that have cared for the Elson twins along their medical journey.

“When I see how joyful they are, how playful they are…they are two little babies deserving of their individual lives and their self-optimisation,” the minister said.

She offered words of encouragement to the twin’s mother and wished them well on the upcoming journey.

“I wish God’s every blessing on you and your two little girls. May He bless and keep you. May He keep you strong. May He keep them strong for the journey. May we all continue to pray for you and to pray for them, and the hands that will undertake the surgery,” she encouraged.

In the meantime, professor of paediatrics at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Celia Christie-Samuels, in providing a history on the Elson twins, 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 twins’ 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 US$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.

Professor Christie-Samuels, therefore, expressed immense thanks to the ambassador, King of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, and the Conjoined Twins Programme for reaching out to children from resource-poor settings, such as Jamaica, to offer them life-saving opportunities.

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.

— JIS