Citizens and civil society are appealed to pray for the twins Jaga- Baliya for their speedy recovery
Doctors at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) managed to separate conjoint twins, Jaga and Baliya Kanhar using an innovative bypass technique which helped to separate a significant portion of the boys’ brain after creating a new channel to carry venous blood.
The separation process had been complicated by the 27-month-old boys sharing the vein that returns blood to the heart from the brain. Separating the conjoint twins, Jaga and Baliya Kanhar, was successfully completed at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences after a 22-hour procedure.
Surgery started at 9 am on Monday and went on till 6.30 am on Tuesday. A Japanese expert was present during the process, sources said. Surgery was uneventful and there was no major blood loss or intra-operative problems,” revealed Dr Deepak Gupta, the paediatric neurosurgeon who led the operation under the guidance of Dr AK Mahapatra.
Dr Mahapatra said both the kids were doing relatively well after surgery. The separation process had been complicated by the 27-month-old boys sharing the vein that returns blood to the heart from the brain.
In appearance, the twins remain joined at the head as earlier. “The kids will require one or two more operations within three months for final separation,” a member of the medical team informed. “The boys will be kept under observation till then.” Doctors said they are keeping their fingers crossed that the twins would recover well and be able to brave another surgery so they can live normal lives.
Professor SS Kale, head of neurosurgery at AIIMS, disclosed that surgical planning had begun two months ago, and 40 doctors were involved at various stages of the planning of this extremely rare and complex process of separating twins joined at the head. Globally, only about 50 twins joined at the head have been taken up for surgical separation and few of them have survived. In such cases, even if one of the twins survives to lead a normal life, it is considered a mega achievement.
The parents of Jaga and Baliya, poverty-stricken farmers from Odisha’s Kandhamal district, couldn’t afford to raise the kids in their condition and so sought the help of the government to fund their surgical separation. “We are thankful to our state government for arranging the transportation and other costs involved,” Bhuiyan Kanhar, the twins’ father, told doctors.
Sources said Union health minister JP Nadda, State Minister for health Anupriya Patel, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik and health minister Pratap Jena are closely following the medical developments.
At least one other pair of twins joined at the head is surviving without surgery in India. Sisters Saba and Farah of Patna are 20 years old. They were not operated upon because of the risks involved. Surgeons at Montefiore Hospital in New York recently separated 13-month-old twins joined at the head.
