Nima and Dawa Palden, the conjoined twins and their mother would be home next month, more than four months after the girls and the mother arrived in Melbourne, Australia for the separation surgery.

A pediatric surgeon with JDWNRH, Dr Karma Sherub, said that while the girls have been given the clearance to return home, the date for their return is yet to be decided. “We are discussing about it and the girls and their mother would probably be home by mid-February.”

He said the twins were doing well. Once they are home, they would be required to continue with physiotherapy, which could be done at home.

The first recorded conjoined twins in Bhutan successfully underwent a six-hour separation surgery at the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) in Melbourne on November 9.

The twins were discharged from the RCH on November 26 and continued their recovery at the Children First Foundation’s Kilmore retreat in Melbourne where they received further treatment and nutritional support.

Nima and Dawa were joined at the lower chest to just above the pelvis and they shared a liver.

According to Australian media reports, the medical team at the RCH, on January 26, has given them the all clear and that the girls are fit and well enough to return Bhutan. “One of the twins had a slight infection in the wound that has now cleared up and they are taking their first assisted steps.”

The RCH team will communicate with their counterparts in Bhutan led by Dr Karma Sherub, to determine when they could return home.

The foundation funded the expense for surgery and flights of the girls, their mother and the nurse who escorted them to Australia.

Dechen Tshomo