Mumbai: Conjoined twins took birth early on Thursday at Solapur’s civil Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Sarvopachar Hospital.
They have two hearts, two respiratory systems and two food pipes but a single torso. The mother, who stays at Vidi Gharkul, was admitted to the hospital for delivery on Wednesday.
According to medical rules, a prenatal check-up was done after which the parents were informed about having such conjoined twins but since the pregnancy was over 24-weeks, the doctors could not abort the foetus.
Talking to The Asian Age , Head of Department of Pediatric unit ,Dr Shakira Savaskar, said, “ The baby boy who was delivered on Friday weighs 3.9 kg.” Dr Savaskar added, “ It was a tough task for us, since we went for the caesarean procedure. We got to know through an ultrasound report that the babies are conjoined.”
Dr Savaskar further added, “The newborn babies are breathing very heavily. Apart from this, the function of the lungs, intestine and the oesophagus is also not normal. The twins will remain in the NICU for a period of 15 days.”
When asked is there any surgery is possible to separate them, Dr Savaskar said , “There are battling with life and they need to recover first. After that, it’s a long way. The call on a surgery can be taken after one year.”
The twins have been admitted into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the hospital, and are placed under 24/7 care with a team of specialist doctors.
