Phulbani: Conjoined twin Jaga, who was separated from Balia in a marathon surgery at AIIMS-New Delhi in 2017 and survived, has undergone a health check-up.
Noted neurosurgeon Prof Deepak Gupta of AIIMS-New Delhi, who had successfully conducted the surgery in 2017, visited Phulbani, the district headquarters town of Kandhamal. He conducted Jaga’s health check-up at the district headquarters hospital (DHH), sources said.
Prof Gupta also interacted with Jaga for a long time and said that the boy is now fully fit, physically and mentally. He also advised the chief district medical officer (CDMO) that arrangements may be made for sending Jaga to school.
He further stated that the second phase surgery on Jaga can be performed at an appropriate time.
Jaga and Balia, who were joined at the head from birth, were separated at AIIMS-New Delhi in a marathon surgery by a team of doctors led by neurosurgeons Dr Mahapatra and Dr Gupta in 2017.
Balia died of septicaemia at SCB Medical College & Hospital on November 25, 2020.
The 28-month-old conjoined twins hailing from Milipada village in Odisha’s Kandhamal district underwent the first stage surgery, lasting 25 hours, on August 28, 2017. The final separation surgery was done on October 25, 2017, which lasted 20 hours.
After spending over two years at AIIMS-New Delhi, Jaga and Balia were discharged in September 2019. After returning to Odisha, they were admitted to SCB Medical College and Hospital.
The Odisha government had sanctioned Rs 1 crore from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) for the treatment of the twins.
The rare craniopagus surgery featured in the 2020 edition of the Limca Book of Records.
The medical team comprised 125 doctors and paramedical staff.
One of the features of the surgery was that a vein taken from the vein bank at AIIMS was grafted in Kalia’s brain as the children shared only one vein and it was the first such case of vein grafting in the world.
The medical team took advice from Prof James T Goodrich, a paediatric neurosurgeon at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, as he had done two such surgeries earlier and was considered the topmost expert in the field in the world.
Chances of such cases occurring is one in three million and barely 12 or 13 such surgeries have been done globally during the last 33 years.
