CUTTACK: The Nayagarh conjoined twin sisters Ganga-Jamuna lost their battle with life on Wednesday night at Sishu Bhawan, where they were undergoing treatment. Sishu Bhawan Superintendent, Prof. Saroj Satapathy informed that the conjoined twins died of cardiac arrest at about 1 am on Wednesday.
“Ganga-Jamuna were sharing a common heart and liver. The single heart with congenital malformation was not functioning properly,” said Prof. Satapathy. The team of doctors treating them had made efforts to save their lives but as their heart was not normal they could not sustain for long, he added.
The conjoined twin sisters were born on December 1 to Kishore and Sumitra Dutta of Khalipatana under Sarankula police limits in Nayagarh district in a private nursing home. The hospital referred the twins to Sishu Bhawan for further treatment. A 12-member team of doctors was formed after the visit of Health Minister, who had assured all help for the girls’ treatment. A CT scan of the twins revealed that both were sharing a common heart and liver following which they were shifted to ICU and kept under close observation as their condition remained unstable.
As per the advice of the Radiologist, the doctors had also conducted echocardiograph which revealed that the single heart they shared was defective with abnormal blood vessels and Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD).Ganga-Jamuna were thoracopagus twins, who were fused at the thorax (chest and the upper abdomen). The chances of such births are one in 10 lakh, Prof Satapathy said.