Page 16 - Waterfall City MarApr Issue 2026

Waterfall City Health

B eing together over the recent

festive season had special
significance for the Ndlovu
THE identical twin babies finally returning
family, due to one of their

home after spending months fighting
GREATEST for his life in a paediatric intensive
care unit in another province.

“Our twin boys, Kwandokuhle and
GIFT Kwenzokuhle, were born in April

2025 and at the end of May, when
they were just over a month old, both

We rushed them to the hospital, and
Twins reunited after fight for survival of them developed a flu-like illness.
Kwenzo was placed in isolation while
we awaited their blood test results,”
Andile Ndlovu, from Howick in
KwaZulu-Natal, recalls.
Kwandokuhle healthy and doing
well after his successful PDA Both twins tested positive for
ligation procedure. respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and
doctors discovered a hole in Kwando’s
heart that further complicated his
situation. While Kwenzo remained in
the local hospital, his twin’s condition
deteriorated and doctors discussed
the need to transfer Kwando for
specialised care to Netcare Waterfall
City Hospital in Gauteng.

“We were so worried about him, as his
life was in danger. There was however
an option for specialised treatment
called extracorporeal membrane
oxygenation (ECMO), but this also
came with risks that we had to be
aware of,” Mr Ndlovu recalls.

Netcare, together with specially
trained advanced life support
paramedics and cardiothoracic
surgeon Dr Sharmel Bhika, operate
an ECMO retrieval transport
service specifically for children like
Kwando, who are too critically ill
to be transferred by conventional
ambulance services.

“ECMO is a form of life support

14 Waterfall City Mar/Apr 2026