Separated Siamese twins draw crowds in their village

PATNA - Sita and Geeta, the conjoined twins who were separated after a 14-hour surgery in New Delhi last month, returned to their home in a Bihar village to a rousing welcome with hundreds of people streaming in even from neighbouring areas to see them.

Some villagers offered them sweets, some garlanded them while others just kept looking at them with disbelief as they reached home in Bhawanipur Kushwaha village in East Champaran district, some 200 km from here, late Sunday.

People were happy to see them as two separate entities, unlike when they had left for New Delhi about one-and-a-half months back.

“Our separated daughters Sita and Geeta have become a big attraction. A large number of people have been visiting us since early Monday morning to take a close look at them,” Subhash Mukhiya, the father of the twins and a labourer, told IANS over the phone.

Nirmala Devi, Sita and Geeta’s mother, said that some women of the village could not believe their eyes that her daughters had been separated.

“It was a miracle for them…they touched my daughters to confirmed a scientific success,” she said.

Sita and Geeta’s surgery was conducted at Batra Hospital in New Delhi last month. A team of 27 doctors April 5 separated the 18-month-old Siamese twins, born with congenital abnormalities of being joined at the waist, hip and legs and having a common genito-urinary and intestinal system.

Siamese twins are extremely rare and few reach the surgery stage. The long-term success of separation surgeries in many international centres is less than 50 percent.

Subhash said they were greeted by a few railway and police officials soon after they reached Motihari railway station Sunday evening and garlanded Sita and Geeta and offered them sweets.

He said Patna-based doctor Ajay Kumar was the one responsible for Sita and Geeta’s separation.

“The doctor invited us to Patna and promised all possible help, including monetary help, for the surgery,” Subhash said.