A team of Saudi surgeons successfully separated Somali conjoined twins Rahma and Ramla following a complex 12-hour operation in Riyadh on Thursday, 5 March.
The surgery was performed at King Abdullah Specialized Children’s Hospital in King Abdulaziz Medical City as part of the Saudi Conjoined Twins Program, a specialized humanitarian medical initiative launched in 1990 that treats and separates conjoined twins from around the world. The program has received patients from dozens of countries across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, bringing them to Saudi Arabia for advanced evaluation and surgery.
Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, supervisor-general of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) and head of the programme’s surgical team, told Arab News that the operation was carried out in eight stages involving dozens of specialists across multiple medical fields.
It involved 36 consultants, specialists, and technical staff across multiple disciplines including anesthesia, pediatric surgery, urology, orthopedic surgery, and plastic surgery, according to the program’s surgical team.
Al-Rabeeah explained to Arab News, that the 13-month-old twins were joined at the lower abdomen and pelvis, sharing a pelvic bone, colon, and rectum, with overlaps in parts of the urinary and reproductive systems.
The twins arrived in Saudi Arabia with their parents in May 2025 following directives from King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and were transferred to hospital for extensive tests to determine whether a separation surgery could be safely performed, according to Arab News.
According to the program, the Saudi Conjoined Twins Programme has treated 156 conjoined twins from 28 countries over the past 35 years.
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