Member of Parliament for the Amasaman constituency, Akwasi Owusu Afrifa, has donated an amount of GH¢5,000 towards the surgery to be conducted by the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, on the Siamese twins conjoined at the head.

The MP, together with his wife, Dora Afrifa made the donation during a visit to the twins at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (Ridge). The couple also announced a scholarship package for the twins when they reach school going age.

“Looking at the situation, we need money to do the surgical operation on them and as my contribution to this, today I am giving them, through the doctors, GH¢5,000.

“We have the nicest and ultramodern basic education in Medie, Blue Ribbon Academy. We are going to give scholarships for these children from the day they enter the school to the day they will complete,” he said.

The conjoined twins have defied great odds to see daylight as about 60 per cent of twins conjoined at the head, unfortunately, die in the womb and another 35% die within 24 hours after birth leaving only 5% who survive until surgery.

He thanked the medical doctors at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (Ridge), “for the services you’ve rendered to them [the twins], looking at the interaction you have with them, [I can see] you’ve taken them as your own, God bless you for the services you are rendering to mother Ghana and these children.”

The wife of the MP, Dora Afrifa, on her part appealed to all women, especially mothers, to show love to the twins by donating a token towards the surgery.

“I’m so touched this morning when I saw my babies. The babies are healthy but when you see their condition, they need help so I am appealing to mothers, this is our time to show love to these babies.

“They need us most at this moment, let us show our love as God is telling us to do because they need us, come on board and help,” she pleaded.

She noted that the twins may grow to become prominent people; “doctors, great farmers, teachers and the likes so please show some love to these children.”

Mrs Afrifa said, she is optimistic that Ghanaians will show love to the babies.

To stress his wife’s appeal, the MP also appealed to “everybody, corporate institutions, churches, businesses, politicians and everybody” to join the godly course.

“Nothing is too small, they need pampers, they need baby foods and lots of things so anything you have to help these children, please bring it,” he said.

He further indicated that wellwishers can also send their contribution via the “mobile money number 0550- 613 553 or 0270- 007 786” which bears the name Samuel Addo who is the father of the twins and it will be well acknowledged and God will bless you.

“Nothing is too small, even Gh¢1.00 is okay for these children,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, medical doctors at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital (Ridge) are racing against time to separate conjoined babies.

This will, however, be the first time the doctors in the hospital will conduct such a specialised operation.

The Siamese twins are conjoined at the head and need an amount of GH¢3,000.000.00 for a series of surgery to enable them to live independently.

A Neurosurgeon at the Ridge Hospital, Dr Samuel Kaba Akoriyea, had indicated that “there is a bone defect because the brains are attached and you need to work on that. If we are able to separate them successfully, which we hope to, then we should have enough skin to cover up.”

According to him, “a minimum of 4 to 5 stages of surgery will be required because when you view the image, the first thing you see is that their heads are joined.”

“Again, they have a lot of blood vessels that are now coming up and the more you wait, the more they get intertwined, and it becomes more difficult,” he added.

The phenomenon of twins conjoined at the head is said to occur once in every 2.5 million births.

Parents of the babies Samuel Addo and Justice Bansah said they are grateful to Ghanaians for the support shown so far.