After a successful surgery for separating the conjoined twins Jaga-Balia at the AIIMS, New Delhi on Wednesday, they will be now kept under observation by an expert team in the ICU for around two days, reports said.
The twins were taken out of the operation theatre after completion of plastic surgery at around 2.30 am.
Both were separated after a successful marathon surgery that lasted around 11 hours. A team of 30 doctors from various departments, including neurosurgery, neuro-anesthesia and pediatrics, were in the team that undertook the second phase of the surgery on the twins, who are around two and a half years old.
The second-phase surgery was done before the scheduled time as Jaga’s health deteriorated. The twins were taken to the AIIMS on July 14 from Milipada village in Kandhamal district of Odisha.
The first-phase surgery had been done on August 28 which included experts from Japan as well. As part of the first phase, a new bypass technique was used for the first time on the twins.
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, such craniopagus twins are rarer, accounting for about only two per cent.
AIIMs Delhi chief of neurosciences centre AK Mahapatra had earlier said the twins suffer from a condition that afflicts one in 30 lakh children, of which 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 has sanctioned Rs 1 crore for the twins’ treatment.