Nepali twins awake at last

Jamuna, shortly after the surgery to separate her from her sister Ganga

SINGAPORE -- Two formerly conjoined twin girls are waking up from the surgery that separated them last week, but are now being treated for an infection.

Doctors say eleven-month old Jamuna Shreshtha is now awake, while her twin Ganga is responding well, but is still "sleepy."

The twins have remained under sedation since the surgery to allow their vital signs to stabilize, and they have been receiving progressively smaller doses of drugs.

They are taken off sedation after their wounds were found to be healing well.

But while the girls are now conscious, the girls' pediatric neurosurgeon Keith Goh said it will take another week before doctors can tell how well their brains are working.

Still, doctors say they are encouraged by the fact that the girls were both moving in their cots even while sedated, which they say is a positive sign that there was no major nerve injury.

Another immediate concern is to keep an infection in check.

"It's not under control yet. It still needs about another week of antibiotics," Goh said.

Jamuna has now been taken off a respirator, and doctors say Ganga may be allowed to breathe on her own in another day or two.

The girls were fused at the head, and had separate brains but shared a skull. The condition is rare, occurring only once in about two million live births.

Successful surgery to separate them is even more rare, and both girls had to travel from Nepal to Singapore with their parents in order for the surgery to be done.

The girls' doctors have offered their services for free, and the hospital where they are staying has waived most charges

Reuters contributed to this report.

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