Separated twins girls may have babies, doctors says<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Singapore<\/p>\n
Indonesian twin girls who were conjoined at the abdomen and hip
\ncan look to a future as mothers after they were successfully
\nseparated in a 10-hour operation in Singapore, their doctors said
\non Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\"They will be sexually active... they should be able to have
\nbabies,\" surgeon Tan Kai Chah told reporters three days after the
\n15-month-old girls, Angeli and Anggi, were separated by an
\ninternational team of 15 doctors.<\/p>\n
Tan said each of the twins, who like many Indonesians go by
\none name, now have one leg, with the muscle and skin from a
\nmiddle leg they had shared but could not be saved grafted to
\ncover their abdomens.<\/p>\n
\"I think all of us are very confident given the X-ray findings
\nthat these are going to be weightbearing legs and they will be
\nable to hop around pretty fast,\" Tan said.<\/p>\n
The operation was the third successful separation of conjoined
\ntwins in Singapore since 2001, following similar procedures on
\none-year-old Nepalese babies joined at the head and South Korean
\ninfants fused at the spine.<\/p>\n
However an unprecedented operation on a pair of 29-year-old
\ntwins from Iran, which attracted global attention, ended
\ntragically when both women -- Ladan and Laleh Bijani -- died
\nfollowing a 52-hour operation in July 2003.<\/p>\n
The latest separation attempt had also been considered a
\nhighly risky affair, particularly for Angeli, who has a hole in
\nher heart.<\/p>\n
Doctors said Angeli and Anggi remained in intensive care at
\nthe private Gleneagles Hospital on Tuesday, although they were
\nbreathing on their own and there were no signs yet of any
\ninfections or other complications.<\/p>\n
\"Both children actually came out very well, very stable,\" one
\nof two consultant pediatricians who is overseeing the girls'
\npost-operative recovery phase, Kenny Ee, told the press
\nconference.<\/p>\n
\"All their vital signs are stable and all their vital
\nfunctions of their organs seems stable... so far we've been
\nlucky.\"<\/p>\n
Tan said both girls were expected to remain at the hospital
\nfor another six weeks before returning to Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The girls, born into poverty in the Indonesian city of Medan,
\nwere brought to Singapore in February after an Indonesian
\nbusinessman agreed to pay the medical fees of S$450,000
\n(US$273,000).<\/p>\n
The girls' father, Subari, a snack vendor, thanked the
\n64-year-old businessman, Olo Panggabean, but said he was worried
\nabout how he would fund his daughters' medical costs for the rest
\nof their lives.<\/p>\n
\"I think now my first concern is... the medical expenses to
\nlook after the kids, which is quite high,\" Subari told reporters
\nat the hospital.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/separated-twins-girls-may-have-babies-doctors-says-1447893297",
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