"Two-headed" baby delivered in Katsina

Culled from Punch:

A baby girl with what appears to be two heads has been delivered  of a woman at the General Hospital, Malumfashi, Katsina State.

The baby also has a cleft palate and stunted fingers.

The News Agency of Nigeria reported one 19-year-old Zainabu Dahiru gave birth to the baby, which also had no eyes,  on Sunday.

The baby’s father, Malam Dahiru Umar, told NAN on Tuesday that the baby was born through normal delivery.

Umar, a 25-year-old petty trader, said the baby was their first and his wife attended regular ante-natal care during pregnancy.

He said he cried on sighting the baby and sympathetic hospital workers told him that they could not offer any medical assistance beside the delivery.

He said the workers informed him that his wife was in a stable condition and referred the baby to Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Shika, near, Zaria.

Umar appealed to government, wealthy individuals and non-governmental organisations for support.

Meanwhile, effort to speak with Medical Director of the General Hospital failed.

However, a paediatrician, Dr Ahmad Bala, who spoke to NAN, said the baby needed maximum medical examination to ascertain the nature of the abnormalities.

Bala said the medical examination would include physical checks, X-ray and other diagnoses that would equip a physician to speak properly on the matter at hand and possible remedies.

NAN reported that the new born baby and her mother were still at home.

When shown the photograph of the baby, a gynaecologist at the Garki Hospital, Abuja, Dr Kayode Obende, said the condition was called encephacele.