Conjoined twins: Jaga out of ICU, Kalia still under watch

New Delhi, Nov. 3: Jaga, one of the conjoined twins from Odisha whose heads were separated on October 26 at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here, has been shifted to a private ward even as his twin brother Kalia continues to be in the ICU.

Deepak Kumar Gupta, professor of neurosurgery at the AIIMS, said Jaga’s kidney and heart functions are also stable.

“He has been shifted out of the ICU to a private ward. He is stable and is following commands,” he said.

Dr Gupta played a key role in the surgery along with A.K. Mahapatra, chief of neurosciences centre at AIIMS.

He said Kalia was on multiple drugs and still under observation.

“Though his parameters are normal,” he added.

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 16hour-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 though the twins have been separated, the next 18 days will 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.

In India, two similar surgeries had taken place to separate twins joined at the head, but they were not successful as the children died during the procedure.