Indonesian parents of conjoined twins worry about money

Indonesian parents of conjoined twins worry about money

Fayen Wong, Reuters/Singapore

The impoverished parents of twin Indonesian girls, fused together
at birth and separated by Singapore doctors, are worried they do
not have enough money to care for them when they return home.

The 15-month-old twins, Anjeli and Anggi, have been taken off
the respirator and are being orally fed after Saturday's
operation. But the parents are concerned about their future
medical needs.

"We cannot afford to pay for future medical expenses, we are
just taking a step at a time," the twins' mother, 37-year-old
Meng Harmaini, told Reuters on Thursday.

Their father Subari sells cakes and earns a Rp 20,000 ($2.50)
a day. As well as his wife and twin daughters, Subari's wages
support another 7-year-old daughter, two elderly parents and
three other family members.

The twins, born fused at the hip with three legs and shared
intestines, were separated in a 10-hour operation.

Doctors said Anjeli, born with a hole in the heart, needs
further heart surgery.

"We have to accept that they are going to be handicapped in
certain aspects," Tan Kai Chah, one of the surgeons on the 15-
member surgical team, told Reuters.

"But now they will be able to look after themselves."

In April 2001, a pair of 11-month-old Nepali twins, who had
two brains encased in one enlarged skull, were successfully
separated in Singapore in a marathon surgery that took nearly
four days.

Ganga and Jamuna, now 5, live in a cramped apartment in
Kathmandu, according to Singapore media reports. Ganga has brain
damage and is unable to sit up or talk, while Jamuna can talk and
crawl around.

The operation on the Indonesian twins was the fourth to
separate foreign-born conjoined twins in Singapore.

Conjoined twins occur roughly once in every 50,000 births and
once in every 200,000 live births. Many of those born alive do
not live long, successful separation is very rare.