Gaza's first conjoined twins die in Saudi Arabia
The two-week-old twins suffered from severe bacterial chest infections, according to Saudi health minister.
By News Agencies Tags: Saudi Arabia Gaza Israel newsSaudi Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabeeah said Saturday that the conjoined Palestinian twins who were flown to Riyadh from the Gaza Strip to be separated have died.
On Friday evening, the minister said the girls, Rital and Ritaj, could not be separated and did not have long to live.
Al-Rabeeah said that tests and x-rays showed they suffered from severe bacterial chest infection.
The twins were born on March 27, the first ever in the impoverished Gaza Strip, and doctors there lacked the resources to treat them. They requested help from Saudi Arabia, which has world renowned facilities for separating conjoined twins.
Saudi King Abdullah heard about the twins through the media and ordered they be brought to the kingdom for surgery. The king 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 rival Palestinian government in the West Bank, permission from Israel and approval from the Egyptian government to open the border out of Gaza.
The twins were treated at the National Guard hospital in Riyadh by a top flight medical team, said the health minister.
Why Facebook Connect?
Comment on Haaretz.com articles with your Facebook login, and share your thoughts on your own wall.
- Latest
- Most Viewed
- Most Rated
- Open all
Some are Saudi trained in the West. Most are Western. Even the Registered Nurses are from far afield. The House of Saud, spends well on modern hospitals and health care. Sadly, those twins could not survive. G·night.
Just imagine if the Arabs had chosen to spend less money on arms and missiles and more on hospitals and doctors?
jackie the doctors in saudi arabia are from all over the world. they r very good at their jobs. if u read the article, they never made it to surgery. maybe if there was some life saving medicines in the gaza strip to prevent the infectious disease, they might have had a chance. this is a gift from israel, a country you so proudly praise in ur post.
My condolences to the family of these twin girls. they are angels in heaven now. I can't imagine losing a child, but at least they have some comfort that their babies are in Gods hands now.
as a parent I too grieve for this family... be strong.
I realize that Saudi Arabia has a wonderful medical team and world class hospitals, but there have been many cases in recent years of conjoined twins being separated. Maybe the parents should have come to the US or, possibly, gone to Israel. The doctors there have done miracles in saving people torn to shreds by terrorist suicide attackers.