Caretaker Health Minister Firass Abiad has presented the details of a successful surgery performed to separate conjoined twins at the American University of Beirut Medical Center in the “first surgical operation of its kind” to be conducted in Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency reported on Tuesday.

Abiad explained that the twins’ parents contacted him six months ago to ask for help after an X-ray that then-expectant mother underwent showed the twins were conjoined.

In Lebanon, in light of the economic crisis, hospitals and medical institutions are suffering from shortages of supplies and medicines, as well as medical and nursing staff.

Abiad explained that he contacted AUBMC, which agreed to perform the separation operation despite the current crisis, and “succeeded in proving the ability of the American University and the medical system in Lebanon to carry out the operation.”

“In fact, our hospital institutions are still able to be in the first line in providing advanced health care to citizens and residents in Lebanon and to preserve what they provided before the crisis. With the improvement of conditions, these institutions will be able to provide more,” Abiad said.

He added that “the health system in Lebanon, even if it faces great difficulties, is a flexible system and has the ability to present achievements.”

The preparation for the surgical operation took four months, as a team of doctors and nurses prepared to accompany the twin girls, Riham and Reem, until they were discharged from the hospital.

“The full coordination between the team members and planning for all the details played a key role in the success of the operation, which required 10 hours and was characterized by great accuracy and extreme sensitivity, in order not to have any negative complications on the separated organ,” the NNA reported.