Canadian doctors on Monday embarked on an intricate operation to separate conjoined twin boys from Zimbabwe.
Tinashe and Tinotenda were joined at the abdomen and share a liver, and have been treated at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children since late last year.
Doctors said the biggest challenge, once the children are separated, will be closing the area where they are joined — a task for the hospital’s plastic surgeons.
The twins, brought by their single mother and a nurse to Canada on December 2, were discovered by Canadian doctors in rural Zimbabwe.
Their treatment is being financed by a fund that helps children from the developing world travel to Canada for care.
Two general surgeons, two plastic surgeons and a team of anaesthetists and nurses were taking part in the operation, which started on Monday morning and was expected to last eight hours, the hospital said in a statement. – Sapa-AFP