Parents refuse to treat Siamese twins

DENPASAR: The parents of newborn Siamese twins immediately took their babies home after three hours of intensive treatment at Sanglah General Hospital in Denpasar.

The conjoined babies were transferred from a local private hospital Bhakti Rahayu for further medical examination and treatment at the hospital.

"We failed to convince the parents that the babies badly needed intensive postnatal care at the hospital because of their physical condition," explained Doctor Kuning Atmadjaya, head of Sanglah's Intensive Unit Care. The babies were born Wednesday night to a poor couple in Plaga village in Badung regency.

In the last five years, Sanglah Hospital has treated five Siamese twins including I Gusti Ayu Ketut Sriyani and Gusti Eka Laya Kunta, who were born in 2004. The babies underwent separation surgery in Surabaya, East Java. One of the twins is healthy, the other died after the surgery. - JP