Vani-Veena likely to be sent home with aid

HYDERABAD: Even as conjoined twins Vani-Veena continue to stay at Niloufer hospital, the state government, in all likelihood, may hand over them back to their parents along with financial assistance and medical aid. “The government is planning to hand over Vani-Veena to their parents as they are growing up. Moreover, they have been cut-off from the outside world for so long,” sources told Express. It is learnt that the government is still discussing the nature of assistance to be provided for the twins.They said the poor parents of the craniopagus conjoined twins would be provided some financial help and medical facilities for maintenance of the twins. Surgery plans to separate them would be made simultaneously. “The government will take a final decision shortly,” he added.The conjoined twins are fine and healthy like any other nine-year-old girls. But they are lodged at Niloufer Hospital in Hyderabad, where they have been leading their life for the past five years in isolation, because their brain, veins and arteries are inseparable. It is said that even if experienced neurologists perform the operation, one of them might die.From Beerisettigudam in Warangal district, the parents of the twins, M Murali and Naga Lakshmi said that they were ready to take back the girls from the hospital if the government arranged financial assistance by way of a government job or a stipend. They could not afford to take care of the twins, since they had two more daughters, aged 11 and 6 years, Murali said.Dr Daruru Ranganath, superintendent of Niloufer Hospital, said the twins are healthy with a combined weight of 48 kg and they have shown good learning abilities. “They are no different than a normal child, except the fact that they are conjoined,” the doctor said. He also blamed the twins’ parents for not interacting enough with them.Vani and Veena were born in October 2003. Till 2006, they stayed at the Guntur General Hospital. They were later shifted to the paediatric surgical unit at Niloufer Hospital in 2007 on the advice of the director of Medical Education.Health minister DL Ravindra Reddy has assured the parents that the government would explore all possibilities to get the twins separated surgically at the government’s expense. Ravindra had said that they had inquired about the case of the twins with medical experts from several countries like Singapore and the US and hope to find a solution to separate them, without any danger to their lives.