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.