Kogi donates N3m to separate conjoined twins

 

Mrs Arike holding the twins when she visited them at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). She is flanked by their parents and others. 

The Kogi State government will donate N3 million for the operation to separate a conjoined twins.

Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Mrs. Ayoade Folashade Arike, who spoke yesterday, noted that the six-month-old twins- Miracle and Testimony Ayeni, were joined at the buttocks.

She said an NGO, Linking Hands Foundation, drew the attention of the state to the parents’ predicament. The parents, she said, are from Odoere in Yagba West.

Her words: “We received a call from an NGO, Linking Hands Foundation, that there is a conjoined twins in Enugu State whose parents are from Yagba West in Kogi State. We were told they needed government’s assistance because the twins needed to be separated and the parents don’t have the means.

“I told her to send me the brief about the children and she forwarded their medical reports to me, after which I made a case for them before Governor Yahaya Bello and his wife, Rashida.

“I told the NGO lady, Mrs. Efe Farinre, to send me the financial implications for their surgery abroad and we discovered that it was enormous; but Mrs. Farinre contacted a hospital in the US, if they could perform the surgery for free and the hospital graciously agreed.

“We were now looking at how they would go abroad and where to stay; we went back to the governor’s wife for help and she made an application to that effect. Governor Bello then approved the donation of N3 million for their traveling expense and upkeep.”

She added that an account has been opened in the names of the twins, where donations would be made to, even as she noted that the hospital has offered free accommodation for the period of the surgery. Arik Airline has equally obliged to transport the twins and their parents free.

The SSG said the twins, who are currently at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), would be flown abroad as soon as their traveling documents are processed.