Indian mother who gave birth to conjoined twins sharing nearly every organ says she is 'heartbroken'

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The twins - a boy and girl - have two sets of hands but share one pair of legs and share nearly every vital organ

Doctors say their condition is stable but they need special care - and their chance of survival is slim

 

 Their devastated mother, Shivrajo Devi, said: 'I cannot believe my children are fused together. I'm heartbroken'

• Boy and a girl were born at a private hospital in east India on Wednesday
• Doctors stabilised their condition before transferring them to city hospital
• They have warned chances of survival are 'slim' and sent them home

 

Their father, Chhota Singh, said: 'I made sure to give my wife regular check-ups during pregnancy. We were excited to welcome twins but all our excitement has vanished'

An Indian mother has given birth to conjoined twins who have two sets of hands but share one pair of legs.

The twins - a boy and girl - also share nearly every vital organ.

Their mother, Shivrajo Devi, 24, gave birth at a private clinic in a village in Buxar, Bihar, eastern India, on Wednesday evening.  

However their condition soon began to deteriorate and they were moved to Sadar Hospital in the city where medics gave them preliminary treatment in neo-natal intensive care unit.

Dr Raj Kumar Gupta, a paediatrician at Sadar Hospital, said: ‘They are fused from the waist and only one genital is visible which is of a girl. 

'Even though the second genital is missing, we suspect the face of the second baby is a boy, which makes this case even more rare as conjoined twins are usually of the same gender.’ 

Once their condition stabilised, doctors sent the twins to a bigger hospital three hours away.

But their devastated parents have now been told any further treatment will need to take place in Delhi.

Unable to afford travel or the high cost of medical treatment, the couple say they have been forced to simply take the babies home.

The babies parents said they had no idea she was carrying conjoined twins, despite thorough check-ups throughout her pregnancy including ultrasounds. 

'I cannot believe my children are fused together,' she said.

'I am heartbroken and had hopes that doctors can save their lives but with doctors turning them away, I do not know what will happen to them now.

'They told us the babies would be needed to be kept in a glass box and we should take them to big city like Delhi for their treatment,' said Shivrajo, who has two older children - a four-year-old son and two-year-old daughter.

The twins father Chhota Singh, 30, a factory worker who makes £60 a month, said their joy had quickly turned to despair.

He said he was in shock at the hospital's apathy.

'I made sure to give my wife regular check-ups during pregnancy,' he said.

'We were excited to welcome twins but all our excitement has vanished. I had only heard of such babies.

'After doctors at Sadar Hospital referred us to the other hospital, I borrowed money to take them there.

'But I was told there was no need for treatment.'

Dr Ravi Kumar Gupta, child specialist at Sadar Hospital, said: 'The children are a rare case of conjoined twins. 

'They are full grown and are joined from the abdomen region. 

'While they have four hands they share two legs that are hanging from one side and share most of their vital organs.'

'Their condition is stable but they need special care and so we have referred them to an advanced hospital. 

'They are miraculous babies and very beautiful but as the chances of survival of such twins are always slim, we cannot say about their longevity either.' 

HOW CAN CONJOINED TWINS HAVE DIFFERENT GENDERS? 

Conjoined twins, whose skin and internal organs are fused together, are rare.

They occur once every 200,000 live births, but approximately 40 to 60 per cent of conjoined twins arrive stillborn, and about 35 per cent survive only one day.

The overall survival rate of conjoined twins is somewhere between 5 per cent and 25 per cent.

Conjoined twins are formed from the same fertilised egg, which does not fully separate into two after fertilisation.

The developing embryo starts to split into identical twins, but this process stops before it is complete.

The partially separated egg develops into a conjoined foetus.

As they come from the same egg, conjoined twins are genetically identical and always the same sex.

Despite this, the surgeon at Sadar Hospital maintains in this case the twins could be of different genders. 

Paediatrician Dr Raj Kumar Gupta, said: ‘They are fused from the waist and only one genital is visible which is of a girl.

'Even though the second genital is missing, we suspect the face of the second baby is a boy, which makes this case even more rare as conjoined twins are usually of the same gender.’ 

Source: University of Maryland Medical Centre

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