Nearly a year old Siamese twins Ram and Laxman are behaving differently since they were separated after a surgery last month in Raipur. While one is still the old playful self, the other has turned serious.
Ram and Laxman, born on July 16 2006, were joined in the stomach and liver. They were separated in a rare surgery on May 29 at the state-run Bhimrao Ambedkar Government Hospital and discharged late on Friday.
Said Premvati, the mother: "When they were attached to each other, both were playful. After the separation, Ram looks serious, calm and thoughtful while Laxman is now more playful."
The operation, performed by a team led by AK Sharma, brought the hospital into the limelight.
The hospital management hosted a touching farewell function on Friday for the children.
Ram and Laxman were in the Intensive Care Unit for about a week following the surgery and then shifted to the general ward. Chhattisgarh Health Minister Krishnamurthy Bandhi was the chief guest at the function.
The children's father, Ramprakash, and mother became emotional and broke down at the farewell when the hospital staff gifted the kids toys and infant milk food packets. They also wished the twins good luck.
{{/usCountry}}The children's father, Ramprakash, and mother became emotional and broke down at the farewell when the hospital staff gifted the kids toys and infant milk food packets. They also wished the twins good luck.
{{/usCountry}}The parents, who are labourers, belong to a village in Bilaspur district.
"Though my family is struggling for two square meals a day but we will do our best for the children and their proper education so that they can become doctors because doctors have given them a new life," Premvati told reporters.
The hospital paid for the operation. Almost all the doctors, employees, nurses and ward boys developed a bonding with the twins during their 328-day stay at the hospital.