Giving birth to twins and triplets is now common — so common that it is not considered newsworthy anymore, except when it includes a parasitic twin.
This is the case of Umar Farooq, a baby boy born in Pakistan. Farooq was born with six legs. Experts believe that this was the result of a parasitic twin, or a twin that had attached itself to Umar and stopped developing.
Doctors in Pakistan successfully removed the other legs from Farooq.
They said that it was a very tedious and complicated process since they had to determine which legs belonged to Farooq and which were those of his twin.
Dr. Jamal Razza, director of the National Institute of Child Health in Karachi, said that Farooq’s condition affects about only one in a million new babies.
Farooq’s parents were quite happy with the success of the operation, the expenses of which were shouldered by philanthropists and the government.
Jailani Muslih
Good