Asree Gul, pictured above, is one of a pair of twins who
was born with an extra head attached to her scalp. She had surgery to remove
the extra head in what was the most complex operation ever to be carried out in
the impoverished city of Jalalabad in Afganistan. The two-month-old baby whose
parents are farmers was released from hospital last week.
Surgeons believe that the extra head was part of a third
baby that failed to develop properly in the womb. Her twin sister was born in
good health.
They said the surgery was complicated as vital blood
vessels in Asree Gul's skull were attached to the extra head.
Nematullah, Asree Gul’s father, said he had not expected
his baby to survive the operation.
‘The doctors saved her life. I thank them,’ he said.
The surgeons carried out the operation free of charge as
Asree Gul's parents could not afford it.
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| The baby that had the surgery and her healthy twin |
Afghanistan, plagued by more than 30 years of war and
still fighting a decade-long Taliban insurgency, lacks modern healthcare. However, facilities have improved thanks to the billions
of dollars that have been pumped into the country by the international
community in the last ten years.
Last month, surgeons in New Delhi, India, separated
one-year-old Nigerian twins who were joined at the hip and had spinal cord
fusion. Hussaina and Hassana Badarus' surgery took 18 hours and
was only the fourth such separation to be carried out in the world. The procedure - which cost an estimated £64,000 and was
paid for by a Nigerian philanthropist - was so risky that doctors were forced
to conduct practice runs on dummies before attempting it for real.
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