No progress yet on conjoined twins
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Two weeks after their arrival at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Central Jakarta, the father of conjoined twins Anggi and Anjeli still has no idea when his daughters will undergo separation surgery.
He explained on Monday that he had not yet met the team of 25 specialists who would oversee the operation.
The team is scheduled to hold a press conference on Tuesday to reveal the results of their preliminary examination.
Anggi and Anjeli were born on Feb. 11 at the Gita Insani Hospital in Pematang Siantar, North Sumatra, by caesarean section. They are joined from the waist down, each has one leg and they share a third. The twins, along with their parents, were flown from their hometown in Kampung Baru Aman C, Sebelawan district, Simalungun, North Sumatra, to Jakarta on Feb. 24.
Subari said that nurses at the hospital's Perinatology section, where Anggi and Anjeli are patients, had prohibited him from entering their room. He said that he waited outside the room and the nurses only addressed him when they needed diapers.
The twins mother, Ning Harmain, is only allowed to enter when her daughter need breast milk. Unfortunately, Ning is suffering from a high fever at present and is unable to stay at the hospital.
"Maybe she is too tired because she was at the hospital every day to watch over our daughters," said Subari.
For the present, Subari, who is a getuk lindri (cassava sweetmeat) seller, is staying at the residence of the regent of Simalungun in Cempaka Putih, Central Jakarta.
He said that he was lucky to have received so many donations.
A large part of the funds was donated by the Simalungun regent, who is a candidate for the Jakarta Regional Representatives Council (DPD).
"Pak Iskandar came to see me in Medan and offered his help to bring the twins to Jakarta for surgery," Subari said, referring to Iskandar Sitorus, who is also chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation for Health (LBH Kesehatan).
"We are very lucky that the government has promised to finance the surgery. We are not a rich family and this surgery is expensive."
So far, the family's trip has been expense-free. Subari and Ning only have to pay for the twins' diapers.
Even so, Subari misses his six-year-old daughter who remained in Sumatra.
"Her Grandma is taking care of her. But as a parent, I worry about her and look forward to going home," he said.
Head of the team of doctors for the conjoined twins at RSCM, Arwin P. Akib, disclosed that the delicate surgery would be more difficult than expected.
Although the twins have separate hearts, the heart of one of the girls is on the right side. The girls have one kidney each and separate digestive systems, but share a bowel.
The chance that both twins will survive surgery is slim. Earlier, Ning had expressed hope that the operation would be a success, while saying that in the worst-case scenario, she prayed that at least one girl would live.
Anggi and Anjeli are the 14th case of conjoined twins recorded in Indonesia since 1965. The first recorded case was in Surabaya in 1978.