Fears grow for health of joined twins

Published on Friday 18 July 2003 01:00

A PAIR of ten-day-old conjoined twin girls in Pakistan will not survive unless they receive urgent medical attention, their doctor said today.

The girls share a heart and liver, and their weight has fallen from 8.8lbs to 7.7lbs, said Dr Munaza Batool. They are not able to digest the formula they are being fed, she added.

It was not known whether the twins, who were also running a high fever, could be separated.

"They need to go to a city or abroad," the doctor added.

In Chorhutta, a village of mud houses inhabited by less than 60 families, the birth of the girls has caused a furore.

Residents claim the twins are the reincarnation of the 29-year-old Iranian twins, Laleh and Ladan Bijani, who died recently in Singapore during an operation to separate them, Dr Batool said.

The family has appealed to local charities and the government for financial help.