Zimbabwe Doctors Consulting on Separating Conjoined TwinsZimbabwe’s medical professionals are gearing up for possibly another complicated task of separating conjoined twins, who were born last week at Karanda mission in Mount Darwin. In June, Zimbabwe celebrated the successful separation of Tapiwanashe and Kupakwashe Chitiyo of Murehwa, who were joined at the liver and abdomen. One of the doctors involved, Paul Thistle, says doctors are consulting on how to separate the twins who share one male sex organ and have three legs. He says if the surgery cannot be done in Zimbabwe, they may take the twins to Canada, as they did with twins, Tinashe and Tinotenda Mufuka, in 2005. Dr. Thistle says while he can’t give specific details about the twins’ health and status, they are doing well, and their prospects positive, given medical advancement. He further says such conjoined twins are a common feature in the world. Dr. Paul Thistle is an obstetrician and gynecologist. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health says while there are 1,3 million people living with HIV in Zimbabwe, only 500,000 are under anti-retroviral treatment. Addressing an HIV and human rights symposium hosted by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights in Harare on Thursday, health ministry official Dr. Owen Mugurungi said his ministry was working hard to make sure everyone is covered. Dr. Mugurungi bemoaned lack of funding saying it was impacting negatively on the quality of health care. Addressing the same meeting, different lawyers called on the government to make sure every citizen has access to health care in line with the new constitution. They also urged government to respect the rights of sexual workers and gays, adding this will make the fight against HIV/AIDS easy. He said Bulawayo has the highest people infected with HIV. The meeting wraps up Thursday.