Parliament to honour Soroti hospital doctors who separated conjoined twins
The Parliament of Uganda is set to recognise doctors from Soroti Regional Referral Hospital who on Friday last week, successfully separated a dead conjoined twin from his living sibling.
The babies were attached at the stomach.
The team was led by Dr. Joseph Epodoi, who is a consultant surgeon at Soroti Hospital.
In a letter dated April 1, 2021, the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga invited Dr. Epodoi and his team to be recognised on Wednesday next week.
"The Parliament of Uganda will be considering the above motion (Motion for a resolution of parliament to applaud Dr. Joseph Epodoi and the team of doctors at Soroti Regional Referral Hospital for successfully separated conjoined twins) on Wednesday 7th April 2021 at 2:00pm," the letter reads in part.
This website understands that the separated babies were born in Obalanga Sub-county in Kapelebyong District by Loyce Alinga who is a resident in the mentioned district.
Alinga gave birth to the babies at Amuria Health Centre IV but upon noticing that one of the babies was dead, doctors at the Health Centre referred her to Soroti Hospital which also sent her to Mulago National Referral Hospital.
According to the grandfather of the babies Paulo Oluo, doctors at Mulago did not offer them any help, and discharged them without separating the living baby from its dead sister.
"They thought both would die instantly but they were surprised when one remained alive for six days. They discharged us for the other baby to also die at home, I had lost hope," Oluo told journalists.
The operation was highly risky
Oluo said that they were on their way home, when they decided to seek help from Soroti Hospital and consented to being responsible on any outcome from the operation.
Dr. Epodoi said that luckily, there were some living cells that were separating the babies and both had different body organs which helped to make the operation a success.
This is not the first time that Soroti Hospital takes on risky operations and delivers positive results.
In June 2020, the same hospital conducted a successful operation that delivered a live baby girl who was implanted on the liver of its mother.
According to a statement from the hospital then, the baby was implanted on the lower lobe of the liver but both the mother and baby were saved successfully.
