Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

First time in Bangladesh, doctors separate conjoined twin girls

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Dhaka: Ten-month-old Bangladeshi siamese twins were recovering in hospital on Wednesday after what surgeons hailed as the country’s “groundbreaking” first successful separation operation on conjoined siblings.


Sisters Tofa and Tahura, who were born conjoined at the spine and rectum, underwent a gruelling nine hours in surgery under the care of two dozen doctors. “It is the first time we have successfully separated critically conjoined twins in Bangladesh,” paediatric surgeon Abdul Hanif of Dhaka Medical College Hospital said.


“It’s a groundbreaking operation in our medical history,” Hanif said, adding that it had been “extremely complex”. Almost all Bangladeshi conjoined twins fail to survive their infant years, the surgeon said.


Last year, twin boys, who were joined at the torso and had been abandoned by their parents at the same hospital, died due to severe infections and complications.


Tofa and Tahura will need at least two further operations to restructure their internal organs, Hanif added.


The surgery had been “100 per cent successful” but the twins would remain in intensive care for at least a week to ensure no infections developed, said surgery coordinator Shahnoor Islam.


Born to poor farmers, the sisters — who do not use a surname — were brought to Dhaka a month ago from northern Gaibandha district, 260 kilometres (160 miles) from the capital.


Their mother, Shahida Begum, said she was happy as the doctors had let her breast-feed the girls following the surgery.


“My five-year-old son is very excited knowing he might now be able to play with his sisters. He cried to go inside the intensive care unit to see them but the doctors won’t allow him,” she said, adding that there are still fears of infections.


The surgeons said the next few days would be critical for the twins as the surgical wounds need to heal and the babies need more procedures to be able to live independently. — AFP


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