Hospitals take care of twins who were conjoined

MUMBAI: As experts from Baroda and Mumbai’s Jaslok Hospital join hands to attend to the critical case of conjoined twins born at Sion hospital, two similar set of

MUMBAI: As experts from Baroda and Mumbai’s Jaslok Hospital join hands to attend to the critical case of conjoined twins born at Sion hospital, two similar set of twins born in the city are surviving largely with the help of public hospitals.

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Riddhi and Siddhi, who were separated in June 2014, have been abandoned by their families and are being taken care of by staffers of BJ Wadia Hospital. Simran and Hargun, born in Sion’s Lokmanya Tilak Memorial Hospital in June 2015, are being cared for by the hospital which takes care of their medicines, food and clothes.

Riddhi and Siddhi are healthy and are three years old. They were abandoned by their parents within a year of admission at the hospital. Joined at the abdomen in such a manner that their bodies formed a ‘plus’ sign, they underwent a life-saving procedure immediately to separate rectal opening for passing stool as one of them started developing sepsis due to the accumulation of faeces inside the body.

Dr Minnie Bodhanwala, chief executive officer of BJ Wadia Hospital, said they have started walking on their own and are taking speech, occupational and physiotherapy sessions. “We are raising them in such a manner that they don’t even miss their parents. They will soon undergo an MRI scan and then we will take a call on their final surgery,” said Bodhanwala.

Simran and Hargun were born at the Sion hospital on June 6 and were discharged within a month. Doctors said the two weighed 4.9kg and shared a liver. As the parents already had two daughters, they told the doctors that it was impossible to take care of the expenses of four daughters. The hospital has been providing ration, medicines and baby clothes to the Chembur-based family.

“Their mother Yogita asked for a job since she wouldn’t be able to take care of four daughters. But, we told them that we will be able to take care of the basic needs,” said Dr Paras Kothari, HOD pediatric surgery, Sion hospital.