First for Dhaka as conjoined twins separated

TEN-MONTH-OLD Bangladeshi twins were recovering in hospital yesterday after what surgeons hailed as the country’s groundbreaking first successful separation operation on conjoined siblings.

Sisters Tofa and Tahura, born joined at the spine and rectum, underwent a gruelling nine hours in surgery under the care of two dozen doctors.

Paediatric surgeon Abdul Hanif, of Dhaka Medical College Hospital, said: “It is the first time we have successfully separated critically conjoined twins in Bangladesh.

“It’s a groundbreaking operation in our medical history,” Hanif said. It had been extremely complex, he said. Almost all Bangladeshi conjoined twins failed to survive their infancy, he said.

Last year, twin boys, who were joined at the torso and had been abandoned by their parents at the same hospital, died due to severe infections and complications.

Tofa and Tahura would need at least two further operations to restructure their internal organs, Hanif said.

Surgery coordinator Shahnoor Islam said the surgery had been 100% successful, but the twins would remain in intensive care for at least a week to ensure that no infections developed.

Born to poor farmers, the sisters – who do not use a surname – were brought to Dhaka a month ago from northern Gaibandha district, 260km from the capital.

Their mother, Shahida Begum, breastfed the girls after the operation.