KARACHI, Nov 5: A pair of conjoined pair of girls — born on the eve of Ramazan to Shazia, wife of Ramazan, — is struggling for life at the National Institute of Child Health. The two are joined at the abdomen and do not have fully developed digestive systems.

Hajiani Aamin, the grandmother of the nine-day-old girls, told Dawn on Wednesday night that they were hardly consuming milk. “They are basically on glucose and other fluids which are being administered through tubes.”

She said the two girls had separate heads, chests and limbs. “They pass urine and stool separately too,” said Mrs Aamin.

Answering a question, she said Shazia’s earlier pregnancy had culminated in the delivery of a stillborn child. Mrs Aamin told Dawn that the girls were born at the Civil Hospital Karachi, from where they were shifted to the NICH.

The girls’ father was a motor mechanic in Thatta, she said. In response to a question, Mrs Aamin said the NICH staff were providing medicines to the girls who had been admitted to their surgical intensive care unit.

The combined weight of the two girls was 4.5kg, a paramedical staff told Dawn.

He claimed that the NICH’s administration wanted to keep the matter under wraps because chances of infection would increase if reporters and photographers started visiting the twins.

Mrs Aamin said the two girls’ condition did not seem too good. “Let’s hope the doctors operate on them soon.”

However, the NICH’s lead paediatric surgeon, Prof Iftikhar Jan, said the twins lacked proper digestive systems. “You see, the girls almost don’t have intestines. The surgical operation to separate them will, therefore, be a very difficult one.”

Answering a question, the doctor said no date had yet been fixed for an operation. “Normally operations are conducted on children of between four and six months. That’s why we think the time has not come for an operation.

“First we are going to sort out their digestive system. In the meantime, the status of their hearts and brains would be ascertained. When we decide that the pair is fit for an operation, we will go ahead and do it.”

He added that out of 100,000 to 150,000 children only one was conjoined.

About a month ago the surgeons of the NICH had successfully operated upon a boy who had extra hands and legs. Due to a chest infection, the operation on that boy had to be postponed several times.

The boy also had some heart problems. However, the subsequent operation proved to be successful. The doctors of the National Institute of Cardio-Vascular Diseases had assisted in the procedure.