Family mourn death of baby Dwipayani

Family mourn death of baby Dwipayani

ID Nugroho and Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post/Surabaya

I Gusti Ayu Ketut Sriani sits alone in the corridor of Surabaya's
Dr. Soetomo General Hospital. She mourns the loss of her eight-
month-old baby girl, Dwipayani, who died on Thursday, five days
after being surgically separated from her twin, Dwipayanti.

Head bowed, eyes to the floor, she is virtually unaware of the
doctors, patients and nurses who pass her by. When The Jakarta
Post approached her on Friday, she was unwilling to talk about
her experience, "I am sorry, you'd better not ask me a question,"
she said.

Her reaction was understandable, a day earlier the 35-year-old
woman had been informed of the death of her baby. She screamed
and cried then, but has spoken little since.

Her husband, I Gusti Ngurah Eka Laya Kunta, has done all that
he can to console her, though he too feels the pain of loss.

The couple are also anxious about Dwipayanti's condition,
which the hospital says is deteriorating.

"Doctors are regulating her temperature so that she is not
prone to infection," said Dr. Urip Murtedjo.
He could give no guarantee as to Dwipayanti's recovery, but said
the doctors looking after her were hoping for the best.
Prior to the girls' separation surgery, the hospital had warned
that it was a high-risk procedure.

"We have to take the risk anyway," said Teguh Sylvaranto, one
of the hospital's doctors, before the surgery on Saturday and
Sunday.

He said Dwipayani's heart defect, and the fact that she had
not been getting enough oxygen, led to her demise.
Though doctors had massaged her heart to stimulate it, the
attempt to save her life failed.

Dwipayani's body was flown on Friday to Bali for burial.

Meanwhile, the team of doctors at Dr. Soetomo General Hospital
are assessing their chances of separating conjoined twins, Anggie
and Anjeli. Hospital director Slamet Yuwono is optimistic,
however, that the twins will undergo surgery at the hospital.
The twins, who turn one next week, had previously been treated
at Jakarta's Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital but were discharged on
Jan. 26.