Conjoined Gaza twins lose battle for life
Modern medicine allows for more and more conjoined twins to be separated. When they can’t be, it’s a reminder of how special those children are and how difficult those surgeries are. One can’t help but wonder if living in the troubled Gaza, and their impoverished start has anything to do with their loss of life. Condolences to the family.
Rital and Ritaj
Inseparable … even in death: Gaza twins lose battle for life
By ARAB NEWS | Apr 11, 2010
RIYADH: A pair of conjoined Palestinian twins who came to the Kingdom from the Gaza Strip to undergo separation surgery died in Riyadh on Saturday, said Saudi Health Minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah.
Al-Rabeeah, who is also head of the medical team that was to perform the operation, said Rital and Ritaj died at 4 p.m. in King Abdul Aziz National Guard Medical City. “Their situation worsened as the medical team had expected,” he said. He said the two could not be separated surgically because they had a bacterial infection in their chests and because their hearts, livers and digestive systems were intertwined.
The two girls were born on March 27 — the first ever in the impoverished Gaza Strip where doctors lacked the resources to treat them. They requested help from Saudi Arabia, which has world-renowned facilities for separating conjoined twins.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah heard about the twins through the media and ordered they be brought to the Kingdom for surgery. King Abdullah has funded such surgeries in the Kingdom from other parts of the world.
The twins ran into obstacles in getting there. They had to obtain passports from the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, permission from Israel and approval from the Egyptian government to open the border out of Gaza.
“Tests confirmed that the condition of the twins Rital and Ritaj is very critical and their health is not stable,” said hospital spokesman Sami Al-Shalan in a previous statement. They were examined on arrival in Riyadh by a medical team headed by Al-Rabeeah, who has personally carried out many separation surgeries.