Two-year-old Filipino sisters Olivia and Gianna Manuel are now living as separate individuals after a Saudi surgical team completed their separation in Riyadh, ending a procedure that ran about six hours.
The operation took place at King Abdullah Specialized Children’s Hospital, part of King Abdulaziz Medical City under the Ministry of National Guard, and was led by Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, supervisor general of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre. “Thanks to Allah Almighty and the efforts of my colleagues on the medical and surgical team, the separation of the Filipino twins Olivia and Gianna was successfully completed six hours after the operation began,” he said.
The medical complexity behind the case was considerable. Al-Rabeeah said the girls were joined at the chest and abdomen and shared a liver as well as possibly part of the intestines, while one of the sisters also had congenital heart defects that posed a significant health risk. A roster of 22 consultants, specialists, nurses and technicians took part to maintain precision and safety across each stage of the work.
For the family, the outcome answers a hope the mother had carried for months. “Once they’re finally separated, they’ll be able to move around freely. They’ll be able to run and live a normal life,” Ginalyn Manuel said ahead of the operation. The girls’ recovery, however, is not finished: Gianna still faces additional heart surgery, and both will stay under the Saudi team’s care until doctors are satisfied they have fully healed.
The case extends a long-running Saudi humanitarian effort. Officials counted it as the fourth separation involving Filipino twins and the 72nd procedure carried out by the Saudi Conjoined Twins Programme, which over 35 years has evaluated 158 cases drawn from 28 countries across five continents. Born in Nueva Ecija in April 2024, the sisters had a condition known as omphalopagus, and their path to Riyadh began when their mother contacted the relief centre in mid-2025 after following another Filipino family’s separation journey online.
