Farah said: ‘We are grateful, from the core of our heart. We are also thankful to Allah for it,’ she said. The court has directed the state government to ensure that the twins get the best medical attention, and said the Patna district civil surgeon must ensure regular check-ups for the conjoined sisters.  The father of the girls, Shakeel Ahmad, said: ‘The court order has given us fresh hope.’ Ahmad, who runs a small roadside eatery here, said only the government could help the family.

Ahmad recalled that a few years ago, one of the rulers of a Gulf country had promised to the bear the costs of surgically separating the two sisters. ‘After initial consultations at Delhi’s Apollo Hospital, everything was forgotten,’ he said. American neurosurgeon Benjamin Carson had travelled to India to study the twins. He had agreed to perform the risky operation, with assistance from Indian doctors.

Carson had warned that surgery would be risky, and only one girl might survive. Doctors have also said that the option of surgical separation might mean a series of surgeries, since one operation might not suffice. 

Although the twins have distinct brains and are neurologically and psychologically normal, only one of them has kidneys. The apex court Monday directed a panel of doctors, including those from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, to give their opinion on the scope of surgery. The court direction came on a public interest litigation by Aarushi Dhasmana, a law student at the Pune-based Symbiosis Law School.

Source: IANS

Attorney General G. Vahanvati is assisting the court in the matter. The court’s direction came on a public interest litigation by Aarushi Dhasmana, a student of Symbiosis Law School in Pune, who said she wanted to help Saba and Farah by exploring the possibility of separating them surgically. An earlier report by the doctors said the girls would have to undergo a series of surgeries before two could be separated.  However, the report said that in any case only one the two conjoined sisters would survive.  Dhasmana in her petition has said she came to know about the pain and agony of the twins and their parents via internet. Parents of Saba and Farah have made “fervent appeals” for “mercy killing of their daughters if all options to separate them fail at all levels.”

However, Dhasmana’s petition has said that in case surgical procedures were not possible for separating the twins, the state be directed to “permit the twins to exercise their natural right to die with the consent of their parents with utmost safeguard of obtaining prior permission of the president of India.”

There was a similar case in Betul recently, where the conjoined twins were successfully separated. But the scenario was different because of their age. While the Betul twins were just one year old, Saba and Farah are 16 leading to more complications. 

Tamanna told IANS that if the doctors at AIIMS said that one of the girls would not survive after the operation, they would not go for the surgery. ”Our stand is clear. We’re not ready to lose one of them to save another,” he said. The Supreme Court had Monday asked the Bihar government to make arrangements to bring the teenaged twins by air ambulance from Patna to Delhi for treatment at AIIMS. 
Earlier, on the directions of the apex court, the central government formed a three-member team of doctors to examine the possibility of surgically separating the sisters.

Source: IANS

On the direction of the apex court, the central government formed a three-member team of doctors to examine the possibility of surgically separating the sisters. The apex court July 20 asked the panel of doctors to go to Patna to examine Saba and Farah and give their opinion on the possibility of separating them. he apex court direction came on a petition by Aarushi Dhasmana – a law student of Pune-based Symbiosis Law School – which said that she wanted to help Saba and Farah by exploring the possibility of separating them surgically.

Source: IANS

While directing the listing of the matter July 30, the apex court directed the Bihar government to extend full support to the doctors’ panel. The Supreme Court had July 16 directed the union health ministry to set up a panel of doctors from the AIIMS and Apollo to examine the possibility of surgically separating the conjoined girls.

Attorney General G. Vahanvati is assisting the court in the matter. The court’s direction came on a public interest litigation by Aarushi Dhasmana, a student of Symbiosis Law School in Pune, who said she wanted to help Saba and Farah by exploring the possibility of separating them surgically. An earlier report by the doctors said the girls would have to undergo a series of surgeries before two could be separated.  However, the report said that in any case only one the two conjoined sisters would survive.  Dhasmana in her petition has said she came to know about the pain and agony of the twins and their parents via internet. Parents of Saba and Farah have made “fervent appeals” for “mercy killing of their daughters if all options to separate them fail at all levels.”

However, Dhasmana’s petition has said that in case surgical procedures were not possible for separating the twins, the state be directed to “permit the twins to exercise their natural right to die with the consent of their parents with utmost safeguard of obtaining prior permission of the president of India.”

Source: IANS

The court said a newspaper report on conjoined sisters would “shock anyone’s conscience. What can medical science do in this situation? We want to save both the twins, medical experts can take appropriate decision”. Dhasmana in her petition said that she came to know about the pain and agony of two conjoined twins while she was surfing through internet. She said the twins’ hapless parents had made “fervent appeals” for the “mercy killing of their daughters if all options to separate them failed”.

The petitioner prayed for the setting up of a “high-level committee of medical experts for the purpose of examining the possibility of separating the twins.” The petition said that in case the expert committee came to a conclusion that surgical procedures could be performed, then it should be done by a panel of doctors at the expense of the state. The court will next hear the case on Friday.

Source: IANS

Quoting administrator of the Betul’s Padhar hospital Dr Rajiv Chaudhary, state Congress media cell chairman, Manak Agrawal said that till July 2, Aradhana had no septicaemia and was recovering. But her condition deteriorated after the CM’s visit in the ICU, where she was put on a ventilator to join their first birth anniversary celebration in the hospital.

The Chief Minister touched Aradhana with his hands without taking any precautionary measures such as a sterilized glove, leading to transmission of virus he had come into contact with while shaking hands with the public during his interaction in election meetings, Agrawal added. Ironically, the CM had provided Rs 20 lakh from the Chief Minister’s fund for the twins’ operation.

 Agrawal and other party leaders went to the Shyamala hills police station to lodge a complaint against the Chief Minister but the station in charge turned down their demand. The Congress workers staged a protest before the police station for not accepting their complaint. Chouhan had visited the hospital after he campaigned through a road show for local body election. The CM’s action, the Congress alleged, amounted to culpable homicide and he should be punished for it. Reacting to the Congress demand, state BJP president Prabhat Jha told media persons the Congress was trying to politicize the issue unnecessarily, adding he wished fast recovery of Stuti who is stable after the surgery.

Dr Rajiv Choudhrie, medical superintendent of Padhar hospital, where the twins were recuperating after their surgery, said, “Aradhana passed away at 9:20 pm on Thursday.”

Aradhana had contracted she had contracted a bacterial infection that led to septicemia, a chronic condition where the infection spreads through the blood. According to sources, she was on the ventilator. Even a high dose of antibiotics couldn’t stop the infection from spreading.  

On Thursday, at around 8 pm, Aradhana had her first attack, but the doctors managed to revive her. Minutes later, her heart rate fell again, and she had a second attack. “We tried our best to resuscitate her, but we could not bring her back after the second heart attack,” said one of the doctors.

The twins celebrated their birthday on July 2. The ceremony, attended by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, only saw Stuti being brought out. An uncontrollable Maya Yadav, their mother, said, “I don’t know why this happened, the doctors kept saying everything would be alright. I don’t know if this is my punishment. I wanted both my girls to grow up to be doctors; I cannot believe one of them is no more.”

The duo were admitted to hospital merely 10 minutes after their birth on May 11 and by the time they were stable, their parents decided to donate them to the hospital as they were not in a position to take care of the twins, joined at  the heart and liver.

The hospital decided to perform the critical surgery of separating them following which experts from abroad and India were contacted. The twins were successfully separated after a day-long complex surgery conducted by a team of 34 medical experts, including 23 doctors from India and abroad, on June 20 at the Missionary Hospital in Padhar here.

They are still being monitored closely. “Utmost care of Stuti and Aradhna is being taken,” says Dr Rajiv Choudhrie, superintendent of Padhar Hospital. “We are closely monitoring the blood pressure and the functioning of the vital organs of the two kids, the doctor said, adding, this is a crucial period. Except for some minor problems, all major parameters like blood pressure, pulse rate, temperature et al are within the normal range.”

They should be taken off the ventilator by Friday if things remain normal. Condition wise Stuti is doing a little better than Aradhana. A team of almost 30 members comprising doctors from India and abroad, the doctors from Padhar hospital, especially trained nurses from Delhi and Vellore have been monitoring the kids. 

Another interesting fact is that Dr Prabhakar Tyagrajan, a leading psychiatrist has been flown in to counsel the twins’ parents Hariram and Maya Yadav.”For the past 11 months, the parents have undergone a lot of trauma ever since Maya gave birth to the conjoined twins.”  They need a lot of counselling and Dr Tyagrajan would interact with them to help them overcome the trauma,” Dr Choudhrie said. 

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had paid Rs 20 lakh from the Chief Minister’s discretionary fund for the duo’s expensive surgery. The sisters were born on May 2, 2011 to Maya Yadav, a resident of Chudiya village under Chicholi block of Betul district.

This was perhaps first such surgery performed in Madhya Pradesh and the operation had attracted a lot of public and media attention. Even as the operation was on, people in large numbers gathered outside the hospital, other parts of the city and also the state and prayed for the success of the surgery and well-being of the two girls.