Conjoined twins undergo surgery

A medical team of 50 in Saudi Arabia started complex surgery today to separate a pair of Polish conjoined infant girls who share a lower spine and intestines.

Daria and Olga Kolacz, 13 months, had undergone 20 days of medical tests at the King Abdul-Aziz Medical City for the National Guard in the capital, Riyadh, to confirm that a safe separation was possible.

The cost of the operation is financed by Crown Prince Abdullah, the de facto ruler given the poor health of the king.

He offered to pay medical and travel expenses for the twins and their mother, Wieslawa Dabrowska, after being informed of the case by a Saudi doctor, who learned about the twins from an Internet discussion forum. The family is from Janikowo in central Poland.

The ten stage operation was expected to last for about 15 hours. Today’s operation was the ninth of its kind at the Riyadh hospital.