Will agree to surgery only if both twins survive: Parents

The parents of 16-year-old conjoined twins Saba and Farah have decided to agree for a surgery to separate the twins only if doctors from AIIMS assure them that both would survive the operation.    

"After a medical examination at AIIMS, if the doctors inform us that one of my daughters won't survive the operation we will not go for the surgery," said Mohammad Shakeel, Saba and Farah's father.

Shakeel, who runs a small roadside hotel in the congested new market locality near Patna railway station in Bihar, told rediff.com that he and his wife are not ready to 
lose one child to save another. "Our stand is clear, we will not give consent for operation if one of them would not survive," he said. 

The Supreme Court last week asked the Bihar government to make arrangements to bring the teenage conjoined twins to Delhi by an air ambulance for treatment at the AIIMS.

On the direction of the apex court, the central government formed a three-member team of doctors to examine the possibility of surgically separating the sisters.

The apex court on July 20 asked the panel of doctors to go to Patna to examine Saba and Farah and give their opinion on the possibility of separating them.

Doctors say Saba and Farah will have to undergo a series of surgeries before they can be separated.

Principal Secretary of the Health Department Vayasji said that the Bihar government would arrange an air ambulance to send them to AIIMS and state government will bear the cost of their treatment, including operation.

Sabah and Farah's mother Rubia Khatoon said that only after the Supreme Court directions, the state government issued disability certificates to her daughters. "A health officials recently handed over the disability certificate to them," she said.

Earlier, in spite of the twin sisters' brother Mohd Tamanna's persistent efforts, they were unable to get the certificate.