Abandoned, conjoined twins stare at an uncertain future
Misery
The world of nine-year old conjoined twins, Vani and Veena revolves around their room in Niloufer Children’s hospital and the doctors and nurses who care for them round the clock.
Their parents who eke out a living as labourers left them at the mercy of Niloufer hospital and haven’t visited them once in the past one and a half years. The only link connecting them to the outside world is a television on which they enjoy watching cartoons.
With no chance of separating them safely in the near future, Niloufer hospital is worried about the twins. The hospital recently sent a letter to the child and welfare department requesting them to take steps for the overall development o the twins as they have been living the hospital for the past five years.
On Wednesday, the twins’ parents were summoned to the hospital to discuss the issue.
Doctors fear that the psychological and socio-cultural development of the kids will suffer if they continued to live in a hospital environment. They tried to explain that since the children are completely normal, it is important that their parents give them a home and help them interact and study with children their own age.
However, their father, N Murali refused to take his daughters back home. “We aren’t financially capable of looking after them at home. I have two more daughters, eleven year-old Indu and another daughter Sindhu born after the twins. The government had promised to get the twins operated. I only came here as the doctors called me to speak about the children’s education.”
“I will be able to support the twins if the government provides either one of us a with a government job with a steady income, otherwise we can’t leave home for work and all of have to die out of hunger, either the government should take care of them or hand them over to us after the surgery” Murali said sealing the fate of his Siamese children.
But about two years ago, the twins’ parents had refused to give consent to the surgery, even though the state government had come forward to bear the costs.
Authorities know that taking care of the conjoined twins is turning out to be a costly affair for the cash-strapped Niloufer hospital. The hospital faces an acute staff crunch and has barely managed to care for the twins in the last five years.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Dr K Ramesh Reddy, Superintendent (in-charge) said that Vani and Veena, now nine-years old, were not undergoing any treatment and hence did not need to stay in the hospital.
“The twins are moving around like normal children in the hospital. They are staying in an environment that is not congenial for children of their age. The government was informed of their condition about a week ago. We were asked to talk to their parents and discuss the matter,” said Reddy.
“We are concerned about the well-being of the children and keeping their interest in mind, we have written to the government. Their intelligence is on a par with normal children but they have been cut off from normal life for several years. They are seeing disease and death by staying in the hospital. Whatever response we get from the parents, we will pass it on to the government,” Reddy added.
