GOING by the medical challenges that characterised her birth, Afusat Ibrahim is indeed living up to her name as God’s gift to her parents, Alhaji Adamu Ibrahim and Hajia Aminat Ibrahim of 222 Kulende Estate Sango Ilorin.   

  Little Afusat, the last of the seven children of her parents, had what is referred to as foetus in futu, an abnormal medical condition where a baby is attached to another at birth. In order words, one of the babies is normal while the other is abnormal. The abnormal baby thus serves as a parasite on the other as it does not have fully developed organs and human body features.

  This medical condition is widely believed to be a very rare occurrence. Although there seems not to have been an acceptable consensus on the true cause of the condition, the closest belief is that the egg of a woman, after mating, is trying to develop into twins.  While one develops properly the other does not.

  Besides, the foetuses develop separately but sometimes have two legs attached to each other. It could also be a condition in the medical parlance known as monozygotic growth.

  The foetus in futu is different from Siamese twins because the two eggs in the latter case are fully developed and are not serving as parasites on each other.

  According to Alhaji Ibrahim, doctors at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), had diagnosed in his wife, a condition christened, “obstructed labour” and was successfully passed through a caesarian session.

  “Before this time, she had been delivered of six children but the feelings she had during the gestation period of Afusat were very strange. She used to experience frequent nausea and strange stomach discomfort,” observed Ibrahim, the Kebbi-state born jewellery merchant from Birini Kebbi.

  He added: “Based on the advice of a proprietor of a private clinic in Ilorin, we were at a point contemplating an induced abortion due to the excruciating pains she was passing through. But at the UITH the doctors counselled us against that. So when the caesarian operation was successful and they showed me the baby from my wife, we mistook her for a strange creature.”

  “If the delivery had been carried out outside hospital we would have gone ahead for the prompt burial of the baby. But the doctors at the UITH assured us of the safety of Afusat and performed the surgery on her by removing from her mouth the other baby that was badly formed. They told us that the position of the parasitic baby, if not promptly removed, was very dangerous as it would not only prevent her proper breathing but will also make her feeding difficult.”

 Ibrahim said, the post operation management of her condition lasted for just two and a half weeks and was grateful to the hospital for the good job done on his baby who is now six months old.

  “I had heard that the hospital (UITH) had done kidney transplantation before and has one of the best IVF units in the country. So when the doctors there said they would separate Afusat from the parasite without huge financial implications I expressed confidence in God. The doctors said even though it was the very first operation of that kind of a problem at the place, they expressed optimism in its success. The hospital is indeed a God given gift to our generation,” the elated Ibrahim noted.

  Already, the UITH has concluded plans to commence Open Heart Surgeries before the end of this year. The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of the UITH Professor Abdulwaheed Olatinwo confirmed the development, adding “it is part of our visions to guarantee total and maximum satisfaction for all our patients.”