MillenniumPost
Delhi

Conjoined twins from MP get new lease of life at AIIMS

A pair of conjoined twins was successfully separated at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), the hospital announced on Tuesday. The female twins were attached by the liver, which made the surgery complicated for the doctors.

A little less than eight months old, Shaily and Shilpa were joined at birth and were surgically separated at the AIIMS a few months ago, when they were six months old. They are both healthy and cheerful now, the doctors said.

The twins were born to Lal Bhai, a daily wage labourer, and Shashikala, in Aber village of Satna in Madhya Pradesh. They were brought to AIIMS on 12 November 2012, nearly a month after their birth. For the poor parents, surgery for their daughters was an impossible dream. However, the MP from Satna, Ganesh Singh, stepped in and brought them to AIIMS.

The doctors took nearly five months to complete checkups on the girls and plan the surgery, which took place on 29 May. They added the girls shared one vital organ, the liver, which was to their advantage.

‘The girls were joined at chest, so our first concern was whether they shared the heart. Fortunately, they had separate hearts and other organs, but shared the liver,’ said M Bajpai, professor of pediatric surgery at AIIMS.

The surgery took about eight hours, of which nearly four hours were used to give anesthesia. Then the liver was separated and was covered in with local body tissues. The chest and bone muscles were also separated and a reconstructive surgery was done.

‘We are feeling blessed that our children are healthy,’ said Lal Bhai. ‘We were sad, we cried when they were born. We did not know why this happened. I did not know I was carrying twins. When we went to the government hospital for delivery, we were asked to go to a private hospital,’ said Shashikala.

However, the parents are now hopeful of a bright future for their girls. ‘We want to give them good opportunities in life, to educate them,’ said Lal Bhai.Doctors also said that the girls would have a normal and healthy life.
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