The doctors behind the successful separation of the Bangladeshi Siamese twins conjoined at the head say the girls have years of rehabilitation ahead of them.
According to MTI, the physicians who headed the series of medical procedures, dubbed “Operation Freedom”, said the girls’ condition was now stable but there is a long road ahead.
“The series of operations has not ended. Secondary skull construction and other rehabilitation could take years,” chief coordinator Gergely Pataki said.
Pataki said Rabeya “is smiling, talking, eating, and her mother can hold her”, while Rokaiya is still in a medically induced coma after suffering a viral infection. The girls’ neurological status and their outlook can be assessed after a couple of months, he added.
The first phase of Operation Freedom, including groundbreaking work to separate the blood flow of the brains, was conducted by a Hungarian team led by István Hudák in Bangladesh in August 2018.
Preparatory surgery to separate the twins was performed in Hungary on January 25th this year. During the operation led by Dr Gergely Pataki, the tissue expander system was implanted. A team of 35 Hungarian doctors and assistants led by András Csokay from Budapest’s Honvéd Hospital carried out the final procedure during a 30-hour operation on August 1-2 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Pataki said the Hungarian team had paused to pray together, with their Muslim and Hindu colleagues, three times during the final procedure. He said more than two tons of medical equipment had been brought to Bangladesh for the procedure, and most was left as a donation.
The doctors plan to travel back to Bangladesh to continue operating on Rabeya and Rokaiya in 3-6 months. Operation Freedom was organized by the Foundation for Defenseless People.