Separation may have eluded conjoined twins Veena and Vani, but parting of another kind awaited them on Sunday when they left the comfort of Niloufer Hospital, their home for over a decade.
The twins were moved to a State-run home for children after it was decided by the government that they need a more conducive environment for growth. For the children, who have been living in Niloufer Hospital since they were three, the move was fraught with emotion. The girls told the reporters on Sunday that they missed Niloufer and its staff, though two of them have been deputed to stay with them till they get acclimatised to their new home.
“All facilities for them have been arranged at the home. They were emotionally moved when they arrived and said they missed the hospital. It will take them a while to get used to here,” said a staff member of the home.
“They are very bright children and one of them is also very good at singing,” the staff member said while not being able to tell the twins apart.
For the staff at Niloufer Hospital, the parting was equally painful. “I have become emotionally attached to them and will certainly miss teaching them. They used to share a lot with me and considered me their older sister,” said V. Anusha, the twins’ teacher for a year and a half. A counsellor at Niloufer, Ms. Anusha was not sure if she would be assigned to teach the twins after their move.
Joined at the cranium, Veena and Vani arrived at Niloufer Hospital in April 2006.
Their parents brought them to the healthcare facility hoping for a quick surgical separation. However, numerous vain attempts made in consultation with international surgical experts over the last decade, did not yield results. Last year, a team of doctors from All India Institute of Medical Sciences deemed the surgery risky.
According to doctors at the hospital, the twins share a major blood vessel, reconstruction of which is one of the main challenges for surgical separation. However, doctors also discovered last year that blood vessels in Vani’s brain were narrowed due to the defect and resulted in blood pressure spikes.
Hyderabad-based NGO Helping Hand Foundation has urged the government to consider contacting James T. Goodrich, a noted US-based paediatric neurosurgeon who is credited with at least half a dozen successes of separating conjoined twins. Dr. Goodrich separated 13-month infants joined at the head in New York last October, which kindled hopes for Veena and Vani. The NGO moved court seeking its intervention in prevailing over the government.
