Rajasthan: Rare two Headed baby born, Dies after 32 Hours

Ajmer: In a one of its kind incident, a rare two headed baby was born to a 20-year-old mother and a 24-year-old father at the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College on Monday.

The baby weighed 2.5kg (5lbs 7oz) during birth. The doctors described the baby as a rare case of co-joined twins, with having two sets of the internal organs, but they were all trapped in one body, with only one pair of arms and legs.

While the baby was born healthy, it suffered with breathing issues and was shifted to the intensive care unit for precautions. However, he died after 32-hours of birth as the parents of the baby decided to take him home ignoring the doctors’ advice.

Dr Jaiprakash Narayan, an assistant professor of the paediatric medicine department, confirmed the birth of such a baby to Daily mail further adding that unfortunately the baby could not survive.

On concerns of pre-care taken by the parents during pregnancy raised, he stated that "It was the couple's first child, which probably explains why they didn't see a doctor during the pregnancy and take extra precautions."

“The mother completed her pregnancy full-term and was doing well post surgery but the baby suffered breathing issues,” said Dr. Narayan.

The case in-charge, Dr. Narayan, also thought over operating the baby, he said that seeing to the rare situation, it seemed nearly impossible.

He said “Despite having two pairs of all of their internal organs they were all trapped in one body, with only one pair of arms and legs. You cannot separate such children.”

 



Study Revelations on Such Births:

Two in 100 babies that take birth in India are born with congenital defect

Conjoined babies are born in rare situations when, a single egg develops into 1 baby. In some cases a single egg divides in half 1 to 2 weeks after it completes its fertilization period. This creates a set of identical twins. The exact cause of conjoined twinning is not known.

Recently a study funded by University Grants Commission project under its University with Potential for Excellence programme pointed out that two in 100 babies that take birth in India are born with congenital defect and most of the times it is heart related conditions.

Dr Anita Kar, from the Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, University of Pune's told the Indian Express that "we have been able to identify that 2.2 per cent of babies in India are born with congenital anomaly. In absolute numbers, this translates into nearly [600,000] babies being born each year with congenital anomaly, with heart defects being the most prevalent condition."