Conjoined twins surgery: Jaga off ventilator, Kalia still

Jaga, one of the conjoined twins from Odisha whose heads were separated on October 26 at the AIIMS here, has been taken off the ventilator, even as both he and his twin brother Kalia continue to be in the ICU.
The coastal state's health minister Pratap Jena today visited the hospital here to enquire about their health condition and met the parents of the twins.
He also met the team of doctors, including Dr A K Mahapatra, chief of neurosciences centre at AIIMS, Dr Deepak Kumar Gupta professor of neurosurgery and Dr Maneesh Singhal professor and head of plastic surgery, who conducted the surgery.

Dr Gupta, who played a key role in the surgery along with Dr Mahapatra, said, "Jaga is conscious and following commands. He did not need to undergo dialysis today. Functioning of his kidney and heart is steadily improving."
According to Dr Mahapatra, Jaga has recognised his mother and if he remains stable, he will be shifted out of the ICU in the next 48 hours.
"Kalia is on multiple drugs and under observation. He will remain in the ICU for eight to 10 days more," he said, adding, "The vital parameters of both the children are normal."

Dr Mahapatra said the condition of the craniopagus twins from Kandhamal district is being monitored by a team of experts round the clock.

The two-years-five-months old twins, who were joined at head, were separated following a 16-hour-long surgery at the AIIMS here. A team of around 30 specialists from the institute's neurosurgery, neuro-anaesthesia and plastic surgery departments performed the marathon surgery.
AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria had said that though the twins have been separated, the next 18 days would be extremely critical to ascertain the success of the surgery.
The team of doctors involved in the procedure also had expressed concern about the survival of one of the twins.
The first phase of the surgery was performed on August 28 when the doctors created a venous bypass to separate the veins shared by the babies that return blood to the heart from the brain.

The twins were admitted to AIIMS on July 13.
Dr Deepak Gupta had earlier said the condition, which the twins suffered from, afflicted one in 30 lakh children, of which 50 per cent die either at birth or within 24 hours.
In this country, two similar surgeries had taken place earlier to separate twins joined at the head but were not successful as the children died during the procedure.