Rabeya and Rokeya, Bangladesh's first conjoined twins, are healthy: Health minister

Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Samanta Lal Sen and a team of Hungarian doctors visited the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Dhaka on April 24 for the post-operative follow-up of rare conjoined twins Rabeya and Rokeya.

After the visit, the health minister and the special medical team expressed their satisfaction with the ongoing treatment of the twins and highly praised the Bangladesh Army for conducting the complex operation.

In this context, a press conference was organised today (April 28) at the CMH, where the health minister was present as the chief guest. Senior military and civilian officials were present on the occasion.

Mentionable, conjoined twins Rabeya and Rokeya were born in the house of Rafiqul Islam and Taslima Begum of Chatmohar upazila in Pabna. Conjoined twins are called Craniopagus Twins in medical terms.

Conjoined twins are a challenging disorder for pediatrics. Out of 2.5 million live twins, only one is born with joined heads. About 40% of conjoined twins are stillborn. Among the rest, one third die within 24 hours. An estimated 25 percent of conjoined twins continue to live on with joined double heads. However, there is an option of surgically separating them, but the success rate is not very high.

On the instructions of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, a rare operation of 33 hours was completed for the first time on August 1, 2019, at CMH Dhaka. It was the 17th of such operation in the world.

Rabeya and Rokeya arrived at CMH July 22, 2019 to complete the most complex part of the surgery, the separation of the 'twin brains'. On February 29, 2020, and March 13, 2020, two operations lasting 2:30 hours were successfully completed at CMH Dhaka. Through these two operations, the existing wound on their head is filled with new cells.

By the end of February 2022, a wound on the left side of Rabeya's head emerged. The wound increased by time, making the artificial skull implanted under the skin visible.

To address the complexity, doctors from CMH and Hungary completed a successful operation through cranioplasty surgery on March 7, 2022. Both Rokeya and Rabeya are healthy at present.

More than 100 specialist local and foreign doctors participated in the operation.