Post News Network
Cuttack, May 17: A pair of conjoined twins born in Kandhamal 38 days ago will be operated upon at SCB Medical College and Hospital here, hospital officials said.
The state government has agreed to bear the entire cost of the extremely complex surgery.
The twins are an extremely rare case of ‘craniopagus twins’ (conjoined at the cranium) with such cases occurring in 10 out of every 10 lakh births.
A team of specialists comprising heads of nephrology, paediatrics, anaesthesia and neuro-surgery headed by Dr Sudhansu Mohan Mishra will operate upon the twins.
“The operation will take almost 12 hours and will be highly complex,” said Dr Mishra. If the blood vessels of the twins are joined, the team will have to create new blood vessels which is a highly complex procedure in itself, Dr Mishra said, adding the anaesthesia that will be administered during the surgery will be different from the one that is administered during regular surgeries.
Pre-surgery tests to determine the complexity of the situation and health of the twins will start from Monday. Dr Mishra said such a surgery has never been attempted at the hospital and will be a great chance for doctors to get acquainted with such complex cases.
The twins were born April 9, 2015 to a tribal family from Kandhamal and were admitted to SCB April 24. Bhuyan Kanhar, the father of the twins said he is grateful to the government for agreeing to conduct the life-saving surgery free of cost.
Earlier, an amount of Rs 15,000 was granted by the Orissa State Treatment Fund (OSTF) which was grossly inadequate as the doctors had said that the tests alone would cost more than `25,000.
