A HOSPITAL says it has delivered a baby with two faces, four legs and four arms.
The baby, a boy, died just two hours after birth on Thursday, said Chinhoyi Medical Superintendent Collect Mawire.
The baby’s mother – said to be overcome with shock -- was recovering at the hospital after the delivery through Caesarean Section.
Mawire told The Herald newspaper: “I can confirm that such a thing happened at the hospital. In scientific terms, it’s not really surprising as it can be traced to genetics.”
Deputy Health Minister, Douglas Mombeshora, a medical doctor, told reporters that the rare incident was a case of a fertilised egg that failed to separate completely into twins.
He added: “It is very common even here in Zimbabwe. What could have happened is that an egg failed to separate and the most severe cases of such incidences is the birth of children who share the same head or heart. Most of the children born in that way don’t survive.”
A witness, Divis Zinduru, described the scene in a maternity ward at the hospital: “I went into the room and I saw the baby with two faces, four arms and legs in a tray. It is something I have never seen in my life and I still cannot believe what I saw.”
Health officials say more modern scans would have picked up the abnormalities, allowing hospital staff to legally abort the pregnancy.