A team of brave surgeons at the S.S. Hospital in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India separated conjoined twins for free because the parents couldn’t afford the expensive procedure.
The twins with a combined weight of 7 pounds were joined at the stomach. When they were born, the parents were advised it’s best for them to be separated as soon as possible; however, this isn’t a cheap surgery.
Knowing that these girls’ low rate of survival if they remain conjoined, the team of professionals decided to go on with the procedure for free. The parents were anxious about the complicated surgery, but the doctors told them it’s best for them to perform it.
How Did the Surgery Go?
The surgery was done by 5 surgeons, 10 doctors, and 15 nurses. The three-days-old and yet-to-be-named twin baby girls were anesthetized at the same time. But, the surgery wasn’t easy at all- it was additionally impeded by the tiny blood supply they had.
The surgery lasted for 5 hours and during this time, the team needed to separate their breastbones and livers.
According to assistant professor of pediatric surgery, Dr. Vaibhav Pandey, the staff in their hospital isn’t facing such challenging cases every day.
In fact, this was one of the rarest surgeries done in their hospital. He further added that the babies were indeed brave because they survived the whole operation, despite being quite weak.
The team of professionals successfully performed the surgery and to celebrate their success, they even took a post-op selfie. Check it out below:
What’s Happening with the Separated Twins Now?
The twins are now recovering from the procedure and are doing well.
They will soon be able to go home! This is quite a rare procedure as conjoined twins are very rare.
According to data provided by the University of Maryland Medical Center, they happen once in every 200,000 live births. Around 40 to 60 percent of conjoined twins are stillborn whereas 35 percent survive only a day.
Their overall rate of survival is around 5 and 25 percent.
So, the doctors from the S.S. Hospital increased the girls’ chances of survival significantly. All of the members contributed in the successfulness of the procedure and they all hope the twins will make full recovery.
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