Conjoined twins Jaga, Balia discharged from AIIMS after 2 years

The conjoined twins from Odisha's Kandhamal district, Jaga and Balia, who spent over two years at AIIMS here undergoing complicated surgeries for separation of their heads were discharged from the hospital on Friday.

Accompanied by a team of three doctors, including a neurosurgeon, a neuroanaesthetist and a pediatrician, along with a nurse from AIIMS the twins have boarded a train to Cuttack.

After their arrival at the Odisha city on Saturday, they will be admitted to the Srirama Chandra Bhanja Medical College and hospital there for further medical assistance.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan lauded the team of doctors for the "rarest of the rare" surgery and asserted that it was the "first successful craniopagus conjoined twin separation surgery" in India wherein both the children survived.

"The way Indian scientists have brought global recognition to the country through the Chandrayaan-2 mission, doctors at AIIMS have achieved a feat by performing this rarest of the rare surgery on a craniopagus conjoined twins, who hail from the tribal belt of Odisha," he said.

Vardhan said in the last 50 years, only 10 to 15 children worldwide have survived after the surgical separation procedure.

"This is an extremely rare condition seen in one in 25 lakh live births and any kind of surgical intervention in this condition has 75-80 per cent risk to life to one or both children," the health minister said.

Professor of Neurosurgery at AIIMS Dr Deepak Gupta, who led the surgery termed it extremely complex and challenging as the twins "shared venous return (circular sinus) and were totally fused with each other at the head".

Their surgical separation required meticulous and detailed planning, he said.

About the present condition of the twins, Dr Gupta said, "Jaga is developing well in all domains of neuropsychological assessment. He is gaining weight and can join school immediately after returning home."