JPM consoles conjoined twins at JKCI

Dar es Salaam. President John Magufuli yesterday paid a visit to conjoined twins Maria and Consolata who are admitted for specialized heart treatment at the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI).

The 19-year old twins who are joined at the abdomen have become celebrities of some sort in Tanzania and beyond. The media has been closely following their path through high school and arrival at university.

On Saturday, they led a special prayer for the President as they thanked him for taking time to visit them in hospital. Dr Magufuli wished them a quick recovery, said a statement from the Directorate of Presidential Communications.

Maria and Consolata, the first-year students at Ruaha Catholic University College were referred to JKCI on Tuesday.

They were initially undergoing treatment at Iringa Regional Hospital in Iringa Region where they live.

The medical officer in Charge of the Iringa Regional Hospital, Dr Alfred Mwakalebela, on Tuesday explained that the twins were transferred to the heart institute for advanced treatment.

He insisted that they were not in an emergency state by the time they were being referred to JKCI. “They have been progressing well. Their heart problem requires more expert interventions. That’s why we are referring them to JKCI for further diagnosis and treatment,” he told The Citizen.

By Thursday, a team of heart specialists, led by the JKCI’s executive director, Prof Mohamed Janabi, were already working to determine the cause of the heart complication that the conjoined twins are suffering from.

During President Magufuli’s visit at the institute yesterday, Professor Janabi said that the twins were progressing well with the treatment.

He further revealed that in the just ended year, 2017, JKCI has offered treatment to 14,000 patients who were referred to the facility with various cardiovascular diseases.

Maria and Consolata to Consolata are under the care of the missionaries who have brought them up and encouraged them as they pursued their elementary education.

Their parents died immediately they were born, but a Catholic charity, Maria Consolata, adopted and raised them. It also named them after the name of the organization.

While they have declared that they hate to be surgically separated, the Siamese twins who share everything, including household chores and dreams, say they want to be married to the same husband when they eventually decide to settle down for marriage.

They were born at the Ikonda Hospital in Makete District and completed primary education at Ikonda Primary School before they later joined Maria Conolata Secondary School.

They completed advanced secondary education at Udzungwa High School in Kilolo District and later joined Rucu in Iringa.