Rohit Shishodia

The Greater Accra Regional Hospital, Ghana, will follow Delhi-AIIMS model to separate seven-month-old male conjoined twins. This will be the first such surgery in Ghana.

It may be noted that a total of 125 doctors at Delhi-AIIMS had conducted a successful surgery to separate conjoined babies Jagga and Balia of Odisha. This case was widely recognized by doctors across the globe.

The experience of doctors of Delhi-AIIMS will help in giving the new lease of life to the twins at Ghana.

Dr Deepak Gupta, Department of Neurosurgery, Delhi-AIIMS, who led the team that had operated upon Jagga and Balia, will help Ghana doctors to perform the complicated surgery.

Dr Gupta was recently invited by the government and neurosurgeons of Ghana  to educate them about the surgery. Dr Gupta has helped the Ghana government in development of healthcare infrastructure for the surgery.  He has also developed 3D prints of the conjoined twins of Ghana.

Speaking to Drug Today Medical Times, Dr Gupta, said, “Taking a cue from our case, the Government of Ghana and neurosurgeons approached us to assist them in the case.”

“I gave a detailed presentation to a team of 50 doctors on how we saved and separated conjoined twins in India,” he added.

“Earlier Ghana doctors wanted to perform the surgery in India but I advised them to develop their own infrastructure to perform the surgery in their own country,” explained Dr Gupta.

The Ghana President gave one million USD grant to them to perform the surgery. Through this grant, they purchased equipment including latest generation microscopes, craniotomy instruments and 3D printing machines.

“My role is to share the experience of the surgery. I believe we will perform this surgery between December and January in four to five stages with an interval of one month. I hope that the surgery will be successful,” Dr Gupta further added.

Dr Gupta informed that India has emerged as one of the countries where these complicated surgeries are performed.

He informed that recently conjoined twins with two heads in Guwahati took birth. Doctors have approached him and discussed the case.

“I have advised them to wait for the surgery till the twins attain six months of age. We will help in this case too,” he added.

Dr Gupta stressed that in this surgery survival rate is 30% but if it is done in multiple stages the risk is reduced. Now inseparable babies are separable with the latest methods of surgery.

Doctors from different branches including plastic surgery, neuro anesthesia, cardiac anesthesia, pediatric cardio and neurologists, pediatric general surgery, microbiology and blood banks participate in the surgery.

A total of 64 such operations have been performed in medical history in the last 100 years so far.