A surgery to separate the conjoined twins Nima and Dawa will take place at the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) in Melbourne, Australia today.

Dr Karma Sherub, a pediatric surgeon with JDWNRH, who is currently in Melbourne said that the twins look good and have become strong and healthy. “They are trying to move around, but has restrictions because they are facing each other.”

The mother of the 15-month-old girls, Bumchu Zangmo, said that she was anxious. Although confident of the positive surgery outcome, she said she was worried.

According to Herald Sun, a newspaper based in Melbourne, Nima and Dawa would be taken for surgery after 8am (Melbourne time) on Novermber 9, where they will be known as Green and Red to avoid mix ups.

It states that 18-member surgical team of RCH specialists will undertake a long, two-staged process to separate the sisters in the RCH’s Theatre 6, the hospital’s largest operating space.

“The complex task of anaesthetizing two matching girls exactly the same time, who share an unknown level of circulation, will begin at 8:45am. It could take anywhere from one to two hours,” Herald Sun states.

RCH head of paediatric surgery, Dr Joe Crameri, reportedly told Australian media that the team was confident. “We haven’t done any further testing with regard to surgery, we feel confident we have all the information we need.”

Connected as a mirror image from the lower chest and through their abdomen, Nima and Dawa would be placed on their side during the first stage of surgery, Herald Sun states.

“The positioning makes it difficult for surgeons Joe Crameri, Tom Clarnette and Michael Nightingale, who are charged with separating the gilrs’ shared liver, crossed over bowels and any other internal organs,” it states.

The surgery that was planned to take place on October 12 had to be postponed to allow the girls to build strength as they were found to be underweight for their age.

Dechen Tshomo

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