Hyderabad: At last there is a ray of hope for Veena and Vani, the conjoined twins of Hyderabad to lead a normal life as a team of doctors from London, after examining them on Saturday declared that a surgery to separate them was possible.
A team comprising Dr David Dunaway and Dr Owase Jeelani from Great Ormund Street Hospital, London examined the 11-year-old twins at Niloufer Chidren’s hospital in Hyderabad and exuded confidence that they can be separated.
The children are joined from the head and all previous attempts to separate them surgically had to be called off due to various complications and given the critical nature of surgery.
Born to a poor couple from Nalgonda district in South Indian state of Telangana, the chubby girls have spent most of their lives at the Niloufer hospital, where they were abandoned by their parents. Dressed in identical red tops and floral long skirts, the sisters were present at the media conference where the doctors said they will operated upon in London.
he doctors said that a final examination will be carried out in London and the surgery will possibly require a team of experts.
Niloufer hospital authorities had approached the London team in view of their successful record in treating such cases. Dr Dunaway said that the surgery would be in many phases.
Dr Devraj, superintendent of Niloufer Hospital said: “A final decision in the matter will be taken after discussion with Telangana health minister”. Quoting the experts from London he said that the 10 to 15 operations would have to be done over a period of 280 days in London.
After the girls were abandoned at birth by their parents Nagalakhsmi and N. Murali, hospital staff have been taking care of the twins as the parents expressed their inability to bear the cost. Niloufer Hospital authorities have been trying to persuade the parents to take the children to enable them to see the outside world. As the hospital was also finding it difficult to arrange the resources required for taking care of the girls, they also wrote to the state government on the issue.
Interestingly the girls themselves have no intention of leaving the hospital. “This hospital is our home. We don’t know any other place”, said Veena. They have developed an emotional attachment with the hospital staff.