Tofa, Tahura doing well

Tofa and Tahura, the 10-month-old babies from Gaibandha who were joined at the waist, are doing well after they were separated through a pioneering surgery in Bangladesh yesterday.

READ more: Conjoined twins separated

Their mother Shahida breast fed them, Shahnoor Islam, associate professor of paediatrics surgery department at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, told The Daily Star this morning.

Meanwhile, doctors during a press briefing at the hospital today said after 48 hours of the operation they can say whether the conjoined twins are out of danger.

Director of DMCH Brig Gen Mizanur Rahman along with other concerned doctors including Dr Shahnoor addressed the briefing.

The twin sisters will be kept at the post-operative room for 10 days for close observations, he added.

The DMCH authorities will brief the media again tomorrow noon.

Yesterday, a 24-member team of doctors, aided by several nurses and support staffers, operated on the twins.

Conjoined twins are identical twins joined in the mother's womb. It is an extremely rare phenomenon. Two babies joined at the pelvis are even rarer. Doctors say such cases are called pygopagus conjoined twins.

Yesterday's surgery was the first of its kind in the country, they added.

The babies, each weighing 5kg, were joined from the back to below their waist. They shared one anus.

There will be some minor surgeries after three to six months, depending on the infants' health, they added.