Doctors separate twin boys

Doctors at an Indian hospital have successfully separated ten-month-old conjoined twins.Ram and Laxman, who were joined to each other from the chest to the stomach, have been at the Ambedkar Hospital in Raipur city, for the past ten months.Hundreds of well-wishers joined the family at a Hindu temple in the city before surgery took place.Doctor AK Sharma, head of surgery said: "It took us a total of four hours to perform the surgery. We had been studying this case for the past month and the operation went according to our plans."It was perfectly investigated by our doctors. We were aware of what we were going to do."Conjoined twins occur roughly once in every 50,000 births and few are born alive or live long.For twins who undergo surgery, one or both often die after the operation and the rate of survival beyond the age of two is just 20 per cent.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

ITN | May 30, 2007

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