With uncertainty looming over the condition of conjoined twins, their poor and helpless parents decided to take them home. The rare twins were on the life support system but the hospital authorities of Mahant Indiresh Hospital maintain that the twins were alive when on the insistence of their parents they were discharged under the provision of leave against medical advice. The doctors admit that the chances of survival of the twins are remote.
Ironically the parents of the twins decided to take them home a day after the authorities of Mahant Indiresh hospital organised a press conference and declared that the treatment of the twins would be done free of cost. The Senior Pediatrician of the hospital, Dr. Girish Gupta told The Pioneer that the mother of the twins was discharged from Doon hospital Wednesday afternoon and after that the parents insisted that they wanted to take them home. He said that the condition of the twins was critical at that time as they were on life support system. The pediatrician added that though the twins were alive when taken out of the hospital the chances of their survival are very less.
The parents of the conjoined twins could not be contacted but the entire episode reflects poorly on the health services of the State. The twins were born in associated hospital of Doon Medical College on March 26 from where they were shifted to MI hospital which is a private hospital. The hospital authorities of the MI Hospital authorities were kind enough not to charge anything from the parents but no effort was made from the state government to help the poor parents of the rare twins. The doctors are of the opinion that in some cases the surgeries of conjoined twins have proved successful but such facility is not available in the State. This was probably first reported case of Siamese twins or conjoined twins in Uttarakhand. They are identical twins joined at the time of birth. It is an extremely rare phenomenon and occurrence is estimated to range from one in 50000 births to 189000 births.