Eight-year-old conjoined twins, Vani and Veena’s world revolves round a little room in one corner of Niloufer Hospital with only a television set connecting them with the world outside. Ask them what they like to watch on TV and the two reply in unison, “cartoons!” Deprived of a normal childhood, the Siamese twins are only used to seeing people dressed in white and who have been taking care of Vaani and Veena.
The doctors and nurses of Niloufer Hospital recently sent a letter to the women and child welfare department requesting them to take steps for the overall development of the eight-year-old conjoined twins. Abandoned by their parents after birth, and who seldom come to visit them from Warangal, the twins have been cared for by the doctors and nurses of Niloufer Hospital for the last eight years. The government has asked the Niloufer staff to summon the parents and discuss the issue with them.
Away from peer groups and education, doctors fear that psychological and socio-cultural development of the kids will suffer in a hospital environment. Doctors explain that since the children are completely normal, it is important that their parents take them home and keep them with children of their age and educate them. However, the twin’s father, N. Murali, refused to take the twins back home. “We aren’t financially capable of looking after them at home. I have two more daughters, 11-year-old Indu and another daughter Sindhu born after the twins. The government had promised to get the twins operated. I only came as the doctors called me to speak about the children’s education.”
