Double tragedy as conjoined twins die

Mohabbat and Sohbat Bukhsh drew their last breath at the National Institute of Child Health.

KARACHI: They entered this world on September 16 and left it on October 13. Mohabbat and Sohbat Bukhsh, the conjoined twins who made headlines recently, drew their last breath at the National Institute of Child Health (NICH) on Wednesday.



At their home in Lassi Goth, New Karachi their mother Karima Buksh surrounded by the family and neighbourhood women just stared at her lifeless children. Her eyes were red but there wasn’t a single tear, almost as if she had already known what was coming.

Indeed this much was expected. NICH paediatrics assistant professor, Nasir Saleem, said that the babies had been sick for the last three days. “They were very ill when they were admitted initially,” he said. “Then when their condition slightly improved the family took them home on the 8th against medical advice. I don’t know what happened at their house but they brought them back on the 11th and they were in bad shape.”

The cause of death was septicaemia - a serious, life-threatening infection that gets worse very quickly and can arise from infections throughout the body.

“The chances of survival for these twins was very slim to begin with,” said Dr Jamal Raza, the NICH director. Seventy-five per cent of conjoined twins die the first day. About one or two per cent survive to live a full life but that also depends on the extent to which they are conjoined.

“It was around early (Wednesday) morning when the doctors put the twins on the ventilator,” said Dr Saleem. “They needed more blood and platelets which we gave them but around 9 am we knew they were breathing their last.”

The doctors at NICH did all they could, the family said but weren’t as happy with how Abbasi Shaheed Hospital treated Karima during the birth. According to Karima, when her children were born she wasn’t informed that they were conjoined. In fact, when a nurse let out a slight shriek and they rushed the children out of the room she figured they were still-born.

“I have three other children, Sajida (6 years), Waqar (4 years) and Bahadur (2 years), they were all born at home and I had a normal delivery,” said the mother. “This was my first time in the hospital. We paid so much money and they didn’t even keep me informed about my children.”

At NICH once the twins were pronounced dead the twin’s aunt who was staying at the hospital with them said they had to wait with the body in the parking lot for nearly two hours before they managed arrangements to take them home. The grandfather mentioned a man known only as Mr Amir who he said worked in a bank and helped them financially. After getting the paperwork out of the way Haider Bukhsh called Amir who helped him get the children home.

“It would cost us about Rs120 per day for two people to commute back and forth from the hospital,” said their grandfather Haider Buksh. “The government has promised to pay for all our hospital expenses but we never saw a paisa.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2010.