In a rare birth, a Handwara woman gave birth to conjoined single headed still born twins at Lal Ded hospital on Thursday evening through an elective caesarean section, surprising the entire hospital staff.
The doctors who operated upon the mother instantly photographed the still born twins whose chest and head were conjoined. Resident Medical officer on duty said such cases are very rarely seen in the hospital.
Tasleema, the mother of the dead baby have had many miscarriages and abortions before. This time she was expecting a healthy baby but was disappointed as well as shocked to see the baby with four legs and four arms.
“I have had a miscarriage when I was expecting my first baby. Then after that when I conceived I had multiple abortions. This time, it was all fine till the time I entered theater, but God had different plans,” said Tasleema who hails from Handwara, adding, “I have only one child and, touch wood, he is fine.”
Senior gynecologist and Head of Unit at Lal Ded hospital Farhat Jabeen said, “It is a developmental defect and the chance of survival depends on their type of connection and the organs they share.”
According to a research published in an international journal, birth of conjoined twins, whose skin and internal organs are fused together, are rare. Conjoined twins occur once every 200,000 live births.
Approximately 40 to 60 percent of conjoined twins arrive still born, and about 35 percent survive only one day. The overall survival rate of conjoined twins is somewhere between 5percent and 25percent.
For some reason, female siblings seem to have a better shot at survival than their male counterparts.
*Although, more male twins conjoin in the womb than female twins, females are three times as likely as males to be born alive. Approximately 70 percent of all conjoined twins are girls