Siamese twins to return home in a week: Doctors
Siamese twins to return home in a week: Doctors
JAKARTA (JP): Six-month-old Siamese twin boys who have
successfully undergone surgery for their separation are expected
to leave Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital within a week, their
doctors said.
Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, the team of doctors,
including the hospital's director, Hermansyur, said the two-hour
operation on Barkah and Slamet was carried out on Feb. 28 after
five months of observation and treatment.
The twins were congenitally joined at the abdomen.
"The most critical time during the surgery was the separation
of their livers, which needed an incision of 44.5 square
centimeters," Hermansyur said.
He said the livers were united but there were separate veins
and intestines.
"The operation costs, including medical treatment before and
after the surgery, totaled Rp 100 million (US13,500), with the
entire amount covered by the hospital."
Hermansyur added that the treatment and operation on the
twins, who were born to relatively poor Bekasi parents, involved
a team of more than 80 doctors and nurses from different
departments, including plastic surgery, radiology, anesthesiology
and pathology.
The twins have not shown complications from the surgery.
"There was only minor bleeding on the first day after the
operation, which has already been cured," Hermansyur said, adding
that the babies' organs were functioning well.
The boys were born by caesarean section on Sept. 12 last year
at Hermina Hospital in Bekasi, east of here, with a total weight
of 5.1 kilograms and 48 centimeters in length.
Three days after the birth, the two were admitted to Cipto
Mangunkusumo for treatment prior to the operation.
On the day before the February operation, the boys had gained
an extra 14 kilograms since their birth, Hermansyur said.
Their housewife mother, Fatonah, 25, also attended the
meeting. Absent was her husband, Sardi, 30, now a conductor on a
public bus.
Fatonah said Sardi was an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver until
they decided to sell the vehicle to cover the hospital bills of
their twins before the boys were admitted to Cipto Mangunkusumo.
The couple has a six-year-old daughter.
Fatonah recalled: "When I was told by a doctor that I would
have twins, I had nothing to say because I knew that it would
require a lot of money."
BArkah and Slamet are the 14th Siamese twins handled by teams
of doctors at the state Cipto Mangunkusumo hospital. (06)