Saudi Arabia to Perform Separation Surgery on Filipino Conjoined Twins
OLIVIA and GIANNA MANUEL — The two Filipino conjoined twins are set to travel to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where they will undergo separation surgery under the Saudi Conjoined Twins Program.
The twins will become the fourth Filipino pair to benefit from this humanitarian medical initiative, which supports children born with rare and complex conditions. The development was reported by Arab News on December 16, 2025.
Olivia and Gianna are one year and eight months old. They were born in April 2024 in Talavera, Nueva Ecija, and are joined from the chest to the abdomen, a condition known as omphalopagus. Conjoined twins are extremely rare, occurring in roughly one out of every 50,000 to 60,000 births worldwide. Because of the medical risks involved, their condition requires highly specialized care and long-term planning before surgery can be considered.
Ahead of their departure, the twins and their family were formally received at the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Manila by Saudi Ambassador Faisal Ibrahim Al-Ghamdi. The family expressed deep gratitude to the Saudi government for extending medical and humanitarian support to their daughters, describing the assistance as life-changing and filled with compassion.
The twins’ mother, Ginalyn Manuel, first learned about the Saudi Conjoined Twins Program in 2024 while her babies were still under hospital observation shortly after birth. Determined to find help, she spent months researching similar cases and following updates about other Filipino conjoined twins who had undergone surgery through the program. Despite initial difficulty in reaching the organizers, she continued searching online until mid-2025, when she was contacted by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center. She was then asked to submit her children’s medical records, marking the beginning of their journey toward surgery.
Saudi Arabia is widely recognized as a global leader in conjoined twin separation surgeries. The program was established in 2015 by King Salman and is led by Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, one of the world’s most respected pediatric surgeons. Since 1990, his medical team has successfully separated more than 140 children from 27 countries.
Several Filipino twins have already benefited from the program, including the Manzo twins in 2004 and the Yusoph twins in 2024.