Soroti doctors who separated twins set to receive medals

Dr Joseph Epodoi (right) receives a certificate from the Soroti hospital board chairman, Dr Charles Vincent Ojoome, last year. PHOTO/SIMON PETER EMWAMU

What you need to know:

  • In April last year, Parliament  honoured Dr Joseph Epodoi for separating the twins. The following month, Kyambogo University handed him an award of excellence for surgery.
  • Last week, Rotary Club of Kiwatule in Kampala recognised him for his dedication to vocational service.

A team of doctors who successfully separated Siamese twins at Soroti Regional Referral Hospital in March last year are set to receive medals during the NRM Liberation Day on Wednesday in recognition of their outstanding work.
Dr Joseph Epodoi and 15 other colleagues rose to fame after separating the conjoined pair. 

The twins had been referred to Mulago Hospital, but their parents resorted to the Soroti health facility after failing to get help at the national referral hospital.
Dr Epodoi, a senior consultant and head of surgical department at Soroti Hospital, told Monitor at the weekend that he received a call from the Office of the President requesting the team to travel to Kampala for the award ceremony in Kololo.

“I feel proud to be noticed by the first office in the land. However, I have to keep with the people not to be carried away by fame and medals,” Dr Epodoi said.
He said there  are a number of other surgeries they have conducted which are unknown, citing one in 2003 when they  carried out 183 complicated surgeries in Teso Sub-region during the Lord’s Resistance Army insurgence.
The team also successfully removed a baby that was implanted in the liver of its mother in June 2020.
Another includes a surgery on a child without an anus in November last year.

Other awards
In  April last year, Parliament  honoured Dr Joseph Epodoi for separating the twins. The following month, Kyambogo University handed him an award of excellence for surgery. Two months later, he received an award for clinical excellence from Soroti Local Government. In November, the Uganda Medical Association awarded him for his excellence in medical practice. 

In the same month, the Ministry of Health recogonised him as the doctor of the year. In December, Transparency International and ActionAid recogonised him for promoting social accountability. In January this year, Soroti Catholic Diocese handed him a medal for serving Teso. Last week, Rotary Club of Kiwatule in Kampala recognised him for his dedication to vocational service.