Odisha health minister Pratap Jena on July 20 visited the AIIMS here and reviewed the medical condition of the conjoined twins who were separated after surgery last year and said that he has requested the hospital authorities to keep the brothers here till both of them fully recovers.
 

The minister was accompanied by a five-member medical team who met the doctors at the AIIMS looking after the twins and received an update on their health condition. They then met the children and evaluated their condition. The team's visit to the AIIMS, New Delhi, came in view of the hospital's plan to discharge the twins as their conditions improved, a source said. Jena said, "We have reviewed the health condition of both the kids and found that while one boy has recovered, the other still needs medical care and attention. So we have requested the AIIMS authorities to keep them here till the other child fully recovers."

The medical team would also submit its report to the Odisha government about when can the twins be discharged from AIIMS. The team comprised head of Neuro-Surgery Department of SCBMCH Dr Sanjeeb Mishra, Superintendent of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Post Graduate Institute of Paediatrics Dr Saroj Satpathy, Associate Professor (Medicine) of AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, Dr Rashmi Ranjan Mohanty, Professor of Surgery Department of SCBMCH Dr Jagmohan Mishra and Assistant Professor (Plastic Surgery) Dr Pruthiraj Singh.

The twins, hailing from Milipada village in Kandhamal district, were separated in the heads in two phases at AIIMS. The first phase of the surgery was performed on August 28, when the doctors created a venous bypass to separate the veins shared by the babies that returned blood to the heart from the brain. The final separation of the twins needed a 21-hour-long surgery was carried out by a team of around 30 specialists from the institute's neurosurgery, neuro-anaesthesia and plastic surgery departments on October 25 and 25 last year.