Saudi Program for Separating Conjoined Twins

The Saudi Program for Separating Conjoined Twins is a program launched by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1990 to receive cases of conjoined twins from various countries around the world and perform separation surgeries for them in its healthcare facilities. Conjoined twins are among the rarest conditions in the world, affecting one case out of every two hundred thousand people.

The Saudi Program for Separating Conjoined Twins has conducted fifty-nine separation surgeries until 2023, making the Kingdom one of the world's leaders in performing these complex and delicate procedures. The program has studied and evaluated over 124 cases from twenty-three countries across three continents around the world.

The Saudi Program for Separating Conjoined Twins is the only one of its kind worldwide that covers all expenses related to the operation, treatment, and post-operative rehabilitation, in addition to hosting the twins' parents from abroad, allowing them to be close to their children and ensure their well-being throughout the medical care period. The cost of each operation ranges from SAR300,000 to SAR1 million, which the Kingdom fully covers, including the family's accommodation and continued medical care for the conjoined children even after they return safely with their parents to their home countries for a period of up to a year or more.

Conjoined twins separation surgeries are conducted at the King Abdullah Specialized Children's Hospital under the Ministry of National Guard, by a team of specialized Saudi medical personnel numbering up to thirty-five experts including doctors, surgeons, technicians, and nurses. The total duration of surgeries conducted amounts to around six hundred hours, with the longest operation lasting for twenty-three and a half continuous hours.