Bhubaneswar: After months of confusion over transfer of separated conjoined twins- Jaga and Kalia to Odisha, the State government today clarified that the twins will be shifted to Cuttack SCB Medical College and Hospital, and not AIIMS Bhubaneswar.
Informing about the development, Odisha health minister Naba Kishore Das stated that very soon both the separated conjoined twins who are undergoing treatment at AIIMS Delhi will be shifted to the premier state-run hospital in Cuttack.
“Initially, there were plans to shift Jaga and Kalia to AIIMS, Bhubaneswar. However, the decision was scrapped after AIIMS Bhubaneswar, which is under the control of the Centre, refused to admit the children,” said Das.
Das further stated, “Be it facility or any other reason, the authorities of AIIMS Bhubaneswar have refused to carry out treatment of Jaga and Kalia at their hospital. However, Odisha government is committed to provide necessary treatment to the twins and provision for their further treatment will be done at SCB Medical College and Hospital.”
Bhuyan Kanhar, the father of separated conjoined twins, had stated, “The condition of both the twins is stable now. Hence, they want to return to Odisha and continue the treatment here.”
The conjoined twins from Kandhamal district of Odisha were taken to AIIMS, New Delhi in July 2017, where a team of 40 doctors including experts from Japan conducted a 24-hour-long surgery in the month of August in the first phase.
Later, the final separation of the twin was performed by a team of around 30 specialists of the AIIMS’ neurosurgery, neuro-anaesthesia and plastic surgery departments on October 25, 2017.