This is the first time the doctors in the hospital will conduct such a specialised operation.

The Siamese twins are conjoined at the head and will need an amount of GH¢3,000,000.00 for surgery to enable them live independently.

Luck smiled on them when the presidency took the full cost of surgery to be performed on the conjoined twins.

Team of nurses from Ghana’s biggest hospitals assembled at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, Ridge in Accra.

The phenomenon of twins conjoined at the head are said to occur once in every 2.5 million births.

Parents of the twins, Justine Bansah and Samuel Addo are hoping the surgery will be successful.

Dr Srofenyo stated categorically that the money is not to be handed to Ridge Hospital as speculated, but it will be used to procure all necessary items needed for the surgery.

He also debunked rumours making rounds on social media about the president’s failure to honour his pledge of footing the GH¢3 million cost of surgery for the Siamese twins.

In an exclusive conversation with Green FM’s news anchor, Obaapa Florence Nyamekye Ceaser, Dr Srofenyo explained that: “I think people are trying to politicise this thing, the money is not to be handed over to Ridge Hospital. We only recently wrote to them the full list of equipment and logistics needed, they will use their system to procure the items. The technical team is yet to come out with the timelines for various stages of the surgery.”

Dr Emmanuel Voado, the neurosurgeon leading the team of 17 surgeons across the country and other specialised areas teaming up to 160 members including cleaners, working together to separate the conjoined twins, added that “we are waiting for the equipment hopefully by the end of the month.”

The Chief of Staff, Frema Osei Opare on the 7th of July, 2021 visited the conjoined twins at the Ridge Hospital to announce that president Nana Akufo Addo has vowed to pay off the cost of the surgery following an appeal for fund.

The Siamese twins are conjoined at the head and will need an amount of GH¢3,000,000.00 for surgery to enable them live independently.

A situation that has seen medical doctors at the facility racing against time to separate them.

However, the Chief of staff, Frema Osei Opare, at a press briefing on Monday, July 5, 2021, brought forth the good news.

This is the first time the doctors in the hospital will conduct such a specialised operation .

A Neurosurgeon at the Ridge Hospital, Dr Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, in an interview with JoyNews’ Super Morning Show host, Kojo Yankson, said the operation will be done in various phases.

“A minimum of 45 stages of surgery will be required because when you view the image, the first thing you see is that their heads are joined. There is a bone defect because the brains are attached and you need to work on that. If we are able to separate them successfully, which we hope to, then we should have enough skin to cover up.

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“Again, they have a lot of blood vessels that are now coming up and the more you wait, the more they get intertwined, and it becomes more difficult,” he said.

Conjoined twins are said to occur once in every 2.5 million births.

Parents of the twins, Justine Bansah and Samuel Addo, said they were surprised at the news of their twins being Siamese.

The hopsital, which was established in 1911 in the Eastern Region, carried out the process on the babies who appeared to be joined at the thorax.

The medical team, led by Dr Tyrus Valmont, successfully delivered the baby and ensured both mother and infants are in great health.

The announcement was made by the Member of Parliament for North Tongu in the Volta Region, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, who was invited to witness the feat.

To mark the historic occassion, Mr Ablakwa donated infant incubators and other items for both mother and infants.

He also pledged to shoulder all bills including the cost of the final surgery leading to the separation of the two babies.

The twins, born at the Ejura Government Hospital, are conjoined at the abdomen.

Doctors at the hospital had to perform a caesarian section to remove the children after the mother had undergone a similar surgery two years ago.

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The C-section started at about 6:30pm and ended at 7pm Saturday night.

The medical superintendent who carried out the C-section, Dr Mensah Manye, said that conjoined twins are very rare and this case is the first of its kind to be recorded at the facility.

“This is the first time we are recording this.” But that is not the first for Dr. Manye to have carried out in the country.

Five years ago, he performed a more complicated case at New Edubiase hospital in the Ashanti region. In that case, he said, the twins shared vital organs like the heart and lung which were very delicate.