Doctors in Singapore have separated 15-month-old Indonesian twin girls conjoined at the waist and hip, a member of the medical team said on Saturday. Angeli and Angge, who share three legs and whose intestines are joined, were separated after eight hours of surgery in the Gleneagles Hospital. "They have been physically separated, but it does not mean that they are out of danger," a member of the medical team told Reuters. She added that the operation, which began on Saturday morning, was continuing as surgeons are reconstructing their abdomens.
"I am so relieved. I have hoped for them to be separated and now it's come true. I looked into the operating room and I saw the moment when they were separated and another team of doctors came to stitch their wounds," Singapore state broadcaster Channel NewsAsia quoted the girls' father Sobari as saying.
"I thank God because both my daughters are now separated, and safe...I'm asking those of you watching on television to pray for us," the girls' mother said.
The girls, born in rural poverty in Indonesia's province of Medan, were sponsored by wealthy Indonesians after a local doctor refused to operate on them. The twins arrived in Singapore in February and have undergone a string of medical tests to assess the risks involved in the operation.
Keith Goh, the neurosurgeon who led an operation on Iranian twins in 2003, told Reuters the surgeons in this procedure would have to create separate digestive systems for both girls.
Because of their limited ability to move, conjoined twins often succumb to a host of medical problems, including blood clots and pressure sores, said Goh, who was also involved in two other operations on conjoined twins in Singapore.
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