One conjoined twin dies after surgery
One conjoined twin dies after surgery
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Ten-month-old Perani Nuraida is now alone in the children's
intensive care unit (ICU) at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital
in Central Jakarta since her conjoined sister, Perina Nurfarida,
died on Wednesday morning after eight hours surgery to separate
the two.
"Perina died at 8:35 a.m. mostly due to post-surgery stress.
Perani's condition is still unstable and we have to wait for
three days to see how she will progress," Darlan Darwis, who is
head of RSCM's pediatric emergency unit, told reporters.
A team consisting of over 60 experts and 40 nurses took 16
hours to separate the girls on Tuesday, much longer than the
calculated 10 hours of surgery. The surgery was completed at
around 12 p.m.
Although the hospital has had experience operating on 16 pairs
of Siamese twins, the first being in 1970, Darlan admitted that
Perina and Perani's was a tough case.
"It was difficult to identify which organs belonged to whom
during the surgery," Darlan added.
The Siamese twins were first born to mother Nunik, 24, and
father Dian Nurfalah, 27, of Serang, Banten province, last April.
The girls were of the omphalopagus type as they shared one
abdomen, one intestine and rectum, and had a conjoined liver,
while their hearts were on the right side of their united body.
The major surgery on Tuesday was the second. The first one,
which was held when the pair were one month old, was to construct
a rectum to avoid possible infection.
Part of the hospital costs which amounted up to Rp 100 million
(US$11,235) were covered by the Nur Farida foundation who donated
Rp 3 million each month to the parents, since breadwinner Dian is
only a factory worker.
After ten months of keeping watch over their daughters at the
ICU waiting room, Nunik and Dian left the hospital on Wednesday
morning to bury Perina in their hometown in the Levin area of
Serang, leaving Perani, who still has no idea of what had
happened to her sister.