Nepalese twins back home after surgery

Published November 19, 2001

KATHMANDU, Nov 18: Siamese twins Ganga and Jamuna Shrestha, who underwent an operation to separate them in Singapore seven months ago, on Sunday returned home to Nepal with their parents.

The 18-month-old twins have spent more than a year in Singapore undergoing treatment, including a 97-hour operation in April to separate their enmeshed brains.

The girls, who were born with inter-locked brains packed into the same skull cavity, have also had intensive rehabilitation.

Their grandfather, Arjun Dev Shrestha, said they hoped soon to take the twins home to their village of Khalanga in western Nepal.

“We will be in the capital for around one to two weeks and then we might head back to Khalanga, if the twins are healthy,” Shrestha told a large group of journalists at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu.

“Jamuna is more active than her sister Ganga and we might have to leave for Singapore again for further treatment within 6-12 months,” he added.

The twins were taken to Kathmandu’s Model Hospital, where they were under the charge of Dr Basanta Pant.

They were five months old when they were flown to Singapore in October last year. Doctors spent six months using computer technology to perfect the separation technique.—AFP

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