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.