Bandung doctors seek religious edict to separate twins

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Doctors here said on Friday they were seeking a religious edict from the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) in order to separate seven-day-old conjoined twins, as they believe that the separation surgery can save only one of the babies.

A team of medical experts from the West Java capital, Bandung, had decided to carry out separation surgery when the twins reached six months of age, chief doctor Dr Alex Choirul Fatah told a news conference at Hasan Sadikin Hospital.

"However, if separated, one will have to be sacrificed because their physical condition and anatomy make it possible for only one baby to survive.

"Such an act would conflict with religious ethics because both babies have a right to live. Therefore, we shall request a decision from MUI," Alex said.

The omphalopagus twins were born last Saturday to Rodiah, 35, and Asep, a 37-year-old construction worker from Bandung, with stomachs, feet and groins joined. The impoverished couple already has seven children.

The babies have no sex organs, but a scrotum was discovered. They have one navel, and each has a head, complete sense organs, two hands and two feet.

On Tuesday, doctors successfully created an anus for the conjoined boys, named as Abdurrahman and Abdurrahim.

Alex said the babies' condition had gradually stabilized since the creation of the anus.

Two days ago, he said, the twins were given their mother's milk through bottles.

Alex said the surgery to separate the twins could be carried out after the babies' bodies were able to withstand the stress involved.

"The operation will take more than 10 hours and it is liable to cause stress. Maybe after six months, they could be separated," he added.

He said the Hasan Sadikun Hospital had ready 24 medical experts to carry out the planned operation.

The hospital has so far handled three sets of conjoined twins in the last five years.

In 1997, the hospital successfully operated on a baby with four feet. Last year, a pair of twins died at the hospital before they were operated on.

Last week, a pair of adult Iranian twins, Ladan and Laleh Bijani, joined at the head, died of blood loss after unsuccessful separation surgery in Singapore.

It was the first attempt to separate adult twins joined at the head, although the surgery has been performed successfully since 1952 on infants, whose brains can more easily recover.

Conjoined twins form when an embryo begins to split into identical twins but stops part way, leaving the partially separated egg to mature. They occur once in every 150,000 to 200,000 live births.