Mother of child born with 2 faces, 4 legs, 4 arms in stable condition

Hospital staff said the baby’s body was still at the mortuary.

Efforts to speak to the mother yesterday were fruitless as she was said to be in shock and was in no position to talk to the media.
On Friday, Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital medical superintendent, Dr Collett Mawire, said it was not possible to talk to the mother as it would traumatise her.
“At this stage we are very particular about what she should be exposed to because she is in a fragile state of mind following what happened.
“We cannot allow her to speak to people who will remind her of what happened,” he said.

The birth has resulted in a slew of interpretations — some of them as unbelievable as the incident that has spawned them — as to the cause of the phenomenon. A Gadzema resident, Mr Tobias Jese said it was a result of witchcraft.

“This can only be witchcraft because if families are cursed things manifest themselves in this way,” he said.
However, a medical doctor in the town, who identified himself as Dr Mvurume, said this was just one of many possible genetic deformities that can occur from the time an embryo starts forming to the time of birth.

The baby was born with two faces, four legs and four arms on Thursday morning while the stomach area was covered with a thin membrane through which one could see the intestines, liver and diaphragm among other internal organs.

Hospital staff swarmed the labour ward to catch a glimpse of the baby, who was delivered through caesarean section.
The baby, however, died shortly after 11am. The baby was in a tray on its side with a face complete with eyes, nose and a mouth facing one side; while the other face faced the other side.
It had four legs and four arms — two on each side. With advances in technology, such deformities can be detected early and authorities allow a legal abortion.

Experts have indicated that the woman was most likely supposed to have twins but the separation did not take place properly.
In some cases, the children are born as conjoined twins, a phenomenon that occurs in roughly one in every 200 identical twin pregnancies. The actual numbers for conjoined births vary from one in 20 000 to one in 100 000 pregnancies and 40 to 60 percent are stillborn, while others die within the first few hours or days after birth.
For as yet unknown reasons, about 70 percent of conjoined twins are girls for as yet unknown reasons.-The Herald

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