Veena and Vani, the conjoined twins, have got a new home in the New Year. The twins, who were staying in the Niloufer Children’s Hospital for more than a decade were on Monday shifted to the State Home for the Children at Yusufuguda in Hyderabad where they were warmly welcomed by the staff and other inmates.
After their parents N Murali and Nagalakshmi from Nalgonda district abandoned them due to poverty and left them behind at the Niloufer hospital, Veena and Vani were living at the hospital under the care of the hospital staff.
Though the successive State Government made many efforts to get the twins, joined by their heads, separated through surgery, they could not succeed due to serious risk to their lives.
Recently Telangana Government had sought the help from london based experts who recommended a lengthy and very expensive surgical procedure. But it also fell through due to the high risk to the lives of the 14 year old girls.
Another hospital in Australia also evinced interest in their case at the behest of a group of NRIs from Telangana but it also remains inconclusive.
Meanwhile Niloufer hospital authorities sent many reminders to the State Government to make an alternate arrangements for their stay as taking care of them was proving very expensive for the hospital. The parents also refused to take them home on the grounds of their poverty.
With no likelihood of an early breakthrough in their treatment the State Government started the process of shifting them from hospital to the Home run by the Women and Children’s Welfare Department.
The girls initially refused to move from the hospital saying they were more comfortable at the hospital as they had developed a close bond with the nurses and other staff members.
But as their stay was also proving very costly and their stay within in the confines of the hospital was hindering their normal mental and psychological growth, the officials decided to go ahead with their plans and finally they were moved out of the hospital amid emotional scenes.
At the Home one of the girl inmates held a placard welcoming the twins as others extended them the greetings of the New Year.