For the Nigerian parents of conjoined twins — Hussaina and Hassana Badaru, watching their daughters celebrate their first birthday after a successful separation surgery is nothing short of a miracle and they have a team of Indian doctors to thank for it. Experts in Nigeria had given up hope of saving both the girls through a separation surgery that was needed to give them a normal life.

The twins shared their spinal cords, lower intestinal tract and genitourinary tracts. This meant that they had one common passage for fecal matter and another one for urination. Their parents come to know about such surgeries being successfully carried out in India. The twins were seven-months old when they were brought to BlK Super Specialty Hospital in the Capital.

“Separation of the Badaru twins was a big challenge as they had unusual sharing of alimentary canal, genitourinary system and nervous system. Rehearsals were carried out using dummies. Every surgical step was defined and rehearsed over and over again till it reached precision,” said Dr Prashant Jain, Consultant, Paediatric Surgery.

He said if not meticulously planned, the success rate in such cases is just 30 per cent. A team involving ten super specialities was formed to carry the separation procedure in three stages. The surgery lasted for about 13 hours after which the girls were moved to separate OTs for further reconstruction procedures.

This was followed by the actual separation of the spinal cords, intestine and genitourinary tract. Dr AK Bath, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon, constructed a new genitourinary tract with new genitalia for each of the girls.