Under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabia is hosting the inaugural International Conference on Conjoined Twins in Riyadh, on November 24-25, 2024, reported the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
The two-day conference, organized by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) in partnership with the UN agencies, aims to promote the diagnosis, treatment and support systems for conjoined twins all over the world. The first day of the event coincides with the World Conjoined Twins Day, which the UN declared upon Saudi Arabia’s initiative.
King Salman Speech
On this occasion, King Salman highlighted Saudi Arabia’s unwavering support for conjoined twins over three decades, since the launch of the Kingdom’s National Program for Conjoined Twins, where the humanity of medicine converged with the legacy of Saudi Arabia derived from the true Islamic religion.
In his speech, delivered by Riyadh Emir, Prince Faisal bin Bandar, King Salman added that conjoined twins face complicated challenges, including their rarity, as they represent about 1 in 50,000 births.
“This requires dedicating medical and scientific efforts to address these challenges, in addition to intensifying regional and international efforts to overcome difficulties in this field and provide the necessary support and care for these cases,” King Salman said.
National Program for Conjoined Twins
Moreover, the King’s speech highlighted Saudi Arabia’s efforts to support conjoined twins over the past thirty years, believing in their right to enjoy the highest possible levels of physical and mental health.
This includes providing care for 143 conjoined twins from 26 countries, as well as performing 61 successful surgical separations, under the Saudi National Program for Conjoined Twins, making it one of the largest specialized humanitarian medical programs in the world and the only one specialized in conjoined twins separation.
World Conjoined Twins Day
Believing in the importance of providing care for conjoined twins, Saudi Arabia submitted the draft resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly to mark November 24 of each year as the World Conjoined Twins Day, with the aim of raising awareness of conjoined twins’ cases at all levels, King Salman added.
Concluding his speech, King Salman thanked the medical teams who deal with these cases with the utmost level of humanity and professionalism, hoping that joint efforts would contribute to enhancing the quality of healthcare and services provided to conjoined twins.
The International Conference on Conjoined Twins is the first-of-its-kind gathering. It brings together more than 500 speakers and participants, from health ministers to doctors, scientists and leading health officials. It aims to discuss the best practices in conjoined twin care, including surgical interventions, maternal care, ethical considerations, and social inclusion.
