Days after AIIMS doctors separate conjoined twins, Jaga shifted out of ICU and Kalia's condition improves

New Delhi: Jaga, one of the conjoined twins from Odisha whose heads were separated on 26 October at the AIIMS, was shifted out of the ICU to a private ward within eight days after the surgery and was on Tuesday seen sitting on his mother’s lap and also taken out in the corridor. His twin brother Kalia, who continues to be in the ICU, has shown some improvement in the form of movements of limbs. The two-years-five-months old twins, who were joined at head, were separated following a 16-hour-long surgery. Kalia underwent a plastic surgery at the hospital on Saturday, during which the unhealthy part of the skin flap of his skull was removed. [caption id=“attachment_4198293” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] The surgery was performed by a team of doctors, including Deepak Kumar Gupta, Professor of Neurosurgery, Maneesh Singhal, HOD of the plastics, reconstructive and burns surgery at the AIIMS, Rajeev Sharma and assistant professor of neurosurgery. “Jaga is on liquid diet which he is taking orally. He was taken out of the room in the corridor on Tuesday. He also sat in his mother’s lap and looked happy. He also was following melodies,” Gupta said. Kalia has shown some improvement in the form of movement of limbs but he likely to stay in the ICU for long time and his outcome is more unpredictable, AK Mahapatra, chief of neurosciences centre at AIIMS said. The twins were admitted to the AIIMS on 13 July. The first phase of the separation surgery was performed on 28 August when the doctors created a venous bypass to separate the veins shared by the babies that return blood to the heart from the brain. Doctors said that the condition, which the twins suffered from, afflicted one in 30 lakh children, of which 50 percent die either at birth or within 24 hours. In India, two similar surgeries had taken place to separate twins joined at the head, but they were not successful as the children died during the procedure.