On November 1, 2016, the country’s national referral hospital undertook a significant and delicate procedure to separate conjoined twins Blessing and Favour Mukiri.
At the end of a 23-hour operation, the twins started a new life separately, a break from the two years they had been conjoined at the lower back and walked side by side sharing a diaper and inner wear.
The 50 specialists among them anesthetists, nine pediatric surgeons, neurosurgeons and plastic surgeons started the operation with a word of prayer.
They went on to revisit the x-ray images of the twins as well as a 3D image generated before the surgery.
They then proceeded to operate on the twins after anesthetists signaled that the girls were sound asleep and their vital signs were stable.
The specialists started the three-phased delicate surgery.
At 6am Blessing and Favour were wheeled out of the theatre into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to recuperate.
Having completed the first pygopagus surgery in Africa and separated twins joined at the lower sacrum, the team took a group photo.
