Missing twin saga: My wife’s placenta has been sent to Italy for analysis – Husband

The placenta tissue of a woman, whose other twin baby is alleged to have vanished at birth at the 37 Military Hospital in Accra, is said to have been sent to Italy for further examinations.

The exercise is to determine whether the 38-year-old woman, Ms Audrey Agyapong, was deliv­ered of twins, which has generated an amperage of interest among Ghanaians.

This was disclosed to the Gha­naian Times yesterday by husband of the twins, Daniel Naawu, in Accra.

After a series of ultrasonic scans in two hospital facilities including the 37 Military Hospital that suggested she was carrying two live foetuses of 38 weeks, Ms Agyapong was delivered of only a baby girl on September 8, last year.

Dr Ali Saine, who performed the Caesarean Section (CS), is alleged to have told Ms Agyapong that only one baby was delivered, a claim the latter utterly rejected – hence the need to send her placen­ta to abroad for further scrutiny, the Ghanaian Times was told.

According to Mr Naawu, one Major Alfred Topper, a member of the team set up to investigate the issue, came to his house and informed him that his wife’s placenta had been sent to Italy for thorough analysis to establish whether it bore twins.

“I asked them why they had to keep the placenta for three months before sending it overseas and he explained that it was be­cause of the nature of the case.

“As a matter of fact, I told him whatever the case be, I wouldn’t believe in the result because I’m convinced my wife gave birth to twins,” Mr Naawu told the Ghana­ian Times.

However, he said, he was given a FedEx tracking ID by Major Topper to enable him track the transportation and arrival of the placenta in Italy.

An information picked up by the Ghanaian Times from Mr Naawu’s phone yesterday indi­cated that the placenta, weighing 1.1 Ibs/0.5kgs was shipped on December 23, 2022, arrived in Italy on January 2, 2023 and de­livered same day by FedEx which tracking ID number was given as 392621613386.

The father of the missing twin said he had been assured by Major Topper that the result of the placenta analysis would be com­municated to him whenever it was ready, “though he didn’t disclose when.”

Mr Naawu said he had been wondering how the examination of the placenta could exactly determine the number of babies delivered on the day.

Shedding light on the placen­ta analysis, an obstetrician, who wants to remain anonymous, intimated to the Ghanaian Times that transporting a placenta abroad for examination “may not exactly bring out the truth.”

“When there is more than one foetus, such as a twin or triplet pregnancy, two types of placenta­tion are possible; most common is dichorionic placentation, where each foetus has its own placenta.

“However, when both foetuses share one placenta, it is called a mono-chorionic placenta,” it elucidated.

Meanwhile, Mr Naawu, who said he has been emotionally imbalanced since the incident, has made a passionate appeal to the Chief of Staff, General Headquar­ters of the Ghana Armed Forces, Major General Nicholas Peter Andoh, “to do everything possible to get to the very bottom of the matter and bring out the truth.”

“I was invited to the Burma Camp in Accra after I wrote to the hospital and met the Major General and other top military of­ficers on November 6, 2022. He is a nice man and I believe he would help bring finality to this case,” he asserted.

The Ghanaian Times on Wednesday January 18, 2023, published an investigative story where a couple who was expect­ing a set of twins, was astounded to be handed a single baby after delivery at the 37 Military Hospital Maternity Unit.

An ultrasonic scan done at the hospital on July 21, 2022, after 31 weeks of pregnancy and signed by Drs M.T Mpetey and R. Asiedu, a Resident and Senior Physician respectively, had confirmed results of an earlier scan with twin A weighing 269g and B weighing 261g.

The couple is consequently, accusing the staff of the hospital of allegedly being responsible for the ‘disappearance’ of one of the freshly-born babies supposed to be the other twin.

Nearly four months have passed since the 37 Military Hos­pital said they had commenced investigations into the incident.

BY JOHN VIGAH