BHUBANESWAR: Doctors of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi on Thursday wrote their names in the history books of the country’s medical science when they successfully separated Odisha’s conjoined twins Jaga and Kalia after a longer operation that lasted 18 hours. The surgery was conducted by a team of 40 doctors from various departments, including neurosurgery, neuro-anesthesia and pediatrics. The operation started at 9 am on Wednesday and continued till 2.30 am on Thursday. This was the second phase surgery conducted on the twins who are also known by the names Honey and Singh. The first phase surgery was conducted on August 28 by Indian and Japanese doctors and it lasted for twenty hours.
“This was a rare surgery conducted at AIIMS-Delhi. The condition of Jaga and Kalia is stable now. They are kept under observation by an expert team in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU),” Dr Ashok Kumar Mohapatra, chief of neurosciences centre,” AIIMS said. The second-phase surgery was done before the scheduled time as Jaga’s health deteriorated. The 28-month-old conjoined twins were taken to AIIMS on July 14 from Milipada village in Kandhamal district of Odisha.
Ahead of the surgery, the twins had to undergo numerous tests. While conjoined twins are known to occur in about every 2,00,000 births, craniopagus twins are rarer, accounting for about only two per cent. Dr Mohapatra said the twins suffered from a condition that afflicts one in every 30 lakh children, of which about 50 per cent die either at birth or within 24 hours. Surgery is feasible only on 25 per cent of the survivors while the rest continue to live with the condition.
The Odisha government had sanctioned Rs 1 crore for the surgery at AIIMS. Odisha health minister Pratap Jena, who was monitoring the development in New Delhi, - expressed his satisfaction over the success of the surgery and said both the babies would return home fully cured. Bhuiya Kanhar and Pushpanjali, parents of the twins, expressed their happiness over success of the surgery. “We had been waiting for this day. I pray Lord Jagannath that the two children would soon come out of the ICU and we would return to our village,” said Bhuiya.
