Dattatreya, T'gana govt promise help for conjoined twins

The Telangana government today offered to facilitate the surgery to separate conjoined twins, Veena and Vani, who have have been staying at a state-run hospital here for the last 12 years.

"If doctors come forward to perform surgery, the government is ready to spend money and facilitate..," state Health Minister C Laxma Reddy told reporters here.

Doctors from London, who examined the twins earlier, expressed readiness to perform the surgery, but they could not give a 100 per cent guarantee to the life of the twins, he said.

A team from AIIMS has also expressed the same opinion after conducting all the tests, he said.

Now, doctors from Australia have recently shown interest in the matter. The parents of the conjoined twins last week urged the Telangana government to facilitate an operation to separate the girls, though medical experts opined that the surgery could be risky.

"Since it was God who gave such a birth to them, we pray to the government (and also God) to perform an operation on Veena and Vani, either in London, Australia or America, to separate them and then hand them over to us," the children's parents M Murali and Nagalakshmi said in a letter to Superintendent of the Niloufer hospital.

Veena and Vani, who were born in 2003 with their heads conjoined, have been staying in the hospital since then under the care of medical staff. The hospital at Red Hills here has become their home all these years as they grew up there.

The parents had said they cannot take care of the children as they are poor and work as daily wage labourers. Reddy said the government is thinking of shifting the twins to a state-run home for less privileged before a final call is taken on the surgery.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya today promised help to the conjoined twins. The Union Minister of State for Labour (independent charge) visited the twins at the hospital.

He said provision of a house, employment to their parents and education to them is being considered by the Centre as well.

The Health Minister also said investigation was underway into the incident of some patients developing infection at a State-run Eye Hospital after cataract surgeries.Action would be taken against those responsible for the tragedy after the inquiry report was received, he said.