Three USA Based Nigerian Doctors Separate Conjoined Twins in Houston

The Siamese Twins were born in April 2014 to Elysse Mata, and her husband, John, and were conjoined at the chest almost face-to-face, linked at the abdomen and sharing a common liver.

The twins had 4 kidneys going into two bladders and they also shared major organs like diaphragm, pelvis, lungs intestines and lining of the heart. However, thankfully the twins had separate hearts.

10 months old conjoined twins, Knatalye Hope and Adeline Faith Mata were successfully separated on February 17th and 18th 2015 in a 26-hour long surgical separation in a Houston, Texas hospital

This operation was conducted by a medical team that included , two Nigerian female doctors and one male doctor, Professor Oluyinka Olutoye( a top surgeon ) among-st other members of the team (24 in total)

Professor Olutoye one of the top surgeons in the historic separation is a graduate of kings College Lagos and University of Ife. He is presently the Co-Director of the Texas Children's Fetal Center and Co-Program Director of Perinatal Surgery Fellowship Program of the well-known Baylor College of Medicine. He came to the U.S. in 1989 to pursue his post-doctoral studies and deciding to stay back.

The success of this surgery has once again brought to fore the ever increasing professional recognition and influence of the Nigerian doctors in United States of America.

Recently , the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on the Diaspora, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa stated during a presentation at the Federal Ministry of Health that about 77 per cent of black doctors practicing in the United States of America were Nigerians. She also talked about the possibility of the Nigerian State harnessing the vast human resources of Nigerian Doctors in the health sector that are abroad.

Hon. Dabiri-Erewa revealed that Nigerian professionals in the Diaspora were always willing to render assistance but observed that the hindrance had been lack of coordination.

As a result, The Federal Ministry of Health has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Nigerian health professionals in the Diaspora and opened a Diaspora Unit to coordinate relations between the health practitioners and the ministry.


Acknowledgement ; The Guardian, Tun Samuel