If I were Dr Keith Goh, after the remarks by Ministar COW, I will move the operation to Malaysia. After all his medical group also have Glenagles hospitals in KL and Penang.
Do a successful seperation of the twins there and our "send your old folks to JB to die" Ministar will be fucked once and for all.
Come on Dr.Goh, move the ops to Malaysia. Ministar Cow says :oIo:
BUT if the twins have 8 sets of KIDNEYS, he will say quickly do OP here ah.
Minister questions plans to separate conjoined twins
By Judith Tan
Neurosurgeon Keith Goh (right), who was involved in the marathon operations here to separate the two earlier sets of twins joined at the head, has been asked by the state government of Andhra Pradesh in India to carry out the surgery. -- PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
THREE of the four twins joined at the head who were separated in operations here are dead, and the fourth is not in good shape.
Given this track record and the similarly dismal results overseas, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan yesterday suggested that doctors reconsider plans to separate yet another pair of such conjoined twins.
Indian twins Vani and Veena, five, will go under the knife at East Shore Hospital in August if the medical team involved decides to proceed with the operation.
Neurosurgeon Keith Goh, who was involved in the marathon operations here to separate the two earlier sets of twins joined at the head, has been asked by the state government of Andhra Pradesh in India to carry out the surgery.
Speaking to reporters yesterday at a grassroots event, Mr Khaw said that doctors would likely end up harming the patients and should not attempt such operations.
He said: 'Surgeons, in some instances, have to pick one twin to die to save the other. Even those who survive would often be left with brain damage. So, to what extent is this quality of life?'
International studies have shown that the chances of surviving surgery for 40 pairs of twins joined at the head was rated 50:50 - one twin would not survive the operation.
And the Health Minister said the outcome of the two operations in Singapore 'reaffirmed these awful statistics'.
In 2001, a team from the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) separated 11-month-old Nepali conjoined twins Ganga and Jamuna.
Ganga, the weaker twin, died at age eight from a severe chest infection, while Jamuna has had numerous complications, including a potentially fatal problem with her spinal cord.
Adult Siamese twins Ladan and Laleh Bijani, 29, from Iran, also underwent surgery here in 2003 to separate them. Both women died on the operating table from excessive blood loss.
An operation here the same year to separate South Korean baby girls joined at the lower spine succeeded.
But for twins joined at the head, Mr Khaw hoped the ethics committees in hospitals would dissuade doctors from attempting to separate them.
The minister first spoke on the issue at a medical conference at the SGH last Friday.
He told doctors then: 'Although life as a conjoined twin would appear to be intolerable, there are conjoined twins who have progressed to adulthood. Thus, in some situations, it may be better not to operate on these patients. To change the course of nature may do more harm than good.'
Although the procedure on the Nepalese twins was hailed as a success eight years ago, the decision to operate on the Iranian twins drew flak from some international observers, including ethicists and neurosurgeons.
The latter surgery was the only one to be reviewed by an ethics committee as the Iranians were the first twins joined at the head to undergo separation as adults, and had come here after doctors in Germany refused to operate on them.
Four neurosurgeons, who declined to be named, agreed that such operations should not be done because separating such patients could leave one or both with serious brain damage.
'One major problem here is making sure that blood supply to both brains is maintained at all times,' one of them said.
In an e-mail reply to The Straits Times, the surgeon at the centre of this issue, Dr Keith Goh, admitted that the complexities of the case were immense, and that he had not yet decided to take on the case.
'I will be recommending further tests and investigations before deciding whether surgery can or should be done,' he said.
He added that conjoined twins, representing 'one of the most extreme forms of congenital malformation and deformity', should be given a chance at a normal life.
'It is an honour that the twins' family, their doctors and the Indian government have approached a Singaporean doctor and Singaporean hospital group, ahead of any other country, to help them,' he said.
Do a successful seperation of the twins there and our "send your old folks to JB to die" Ministar will be fucked once and for all.
Come on Dr.Goh, move the ops to Malaysia. Ministar Cow says :oIo:
BUT if the twins have 8 sets of KIDNEYS, he will say quickly do OP here ah.
Minister questions plans to separate conjoined twins
By Judith Tan
Neurosurgeon Keith Goh (right), who was involved in the marathon operations here to separate the two earlier sets of twins joined at the head, has been asked by the state government of Andhra Pradesh in India to carry out the surgery. -- PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
THREE of the four twins joined at the head who were separated in operations here are dead, and the fourth is not in good shape.
Given this track record and the similarly dismal results overseas, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan yesterday suggested that doctors reconsider plans to separate yet another pair of such conjoined twins.
Indian twins Vani and Veena, five, will go under the knife at East Shore Hospital in August if the medical team involved decides to proceed with the operation.
Neurosurgeon Keith Goh, who was involved in the marathon operations here to separate the two earlier sets of twins joined at the head, has been asked by the state government of Andhra Pradesh in India to carry out the surgery.
Speaking to reporters yesterday at a grassroots event, Mr Khaw said that doctors would likely end up harming the patients and should not attempt such operations.
He said: 'Surgeons, in some instances, have to pick one twin to die to save the other. Even those who survive would often be left with brain damage. So, to what extent is this quality of life?'
International studies have shown that the chances of surviving surgery for 40 pairs of twins joined at the head was rated 50:50 - one twin would not survive the operation.
And the Health Minister said the outcome of the two operations in Singapore 'reaffirmed these awful statistics'.
In 2001, a team from the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) separated 11-month-old Nepali conjoined twins Ganga and Jamuna.
Ganga, the weaker twin, died at age eight from a severe chest infection, while Jamuna has had numerous complications, including a potentially fatal problem with her spinal cord.
Adult Siamese twins Ladan and Laleh Bijani, 29, from Iran, also underwent surgery here in 2003 to separate them. Both women died on the operating table from excessive blood loss.
An operation here the same year to separate South Korean baby girls joined at the lower spine succeeded.
But for twins joined at the head, Mr Khaw hoped the ethics committees in hospitals would dissuade doctors from attempting to separate them.
The minister first spoke on the issue at a medical conference at the SGH last Friday.
He told doctors then: 'Although life as a conjoined twin would appear to be intolerable, there are conjoined twins who have progressed to adulthood. Thus, in some situations, it may be better not to operate on these patients. To change the course of nature may do more harm than good.'
Although the procedure on the Nepalese twins was hailed as a success eight years ago, the decision to operate on the Iranian twins drew flak from some international observers, including ethicists and neurosurgeons.
The latter surgery was the only one to be reviewed by an ethics committee as the Iranians were the first twins joined at the head to undergo separation as adults, and had come here after doctors in Germany refused to operate on them.
Four neurosurgeons, who declined to be named, agreed that such operations should not be done because separating such patients could leave one or both with serious brain damage.
'One major problem here is making sure that blood supply to both brains is maintained at all times,' one of them said.
In an e-mail reply to The Straits Times, the surgeon at the centre of this issue, Dr Keith Goh, admitted that the complexities of the case were immense, and that he had not yet decided to take on the case.
'I will be recommending further tests and investigations before deciding whether surgery can or should be done,' he said.
He added that conjoined twins, representing 'one of the most extreme forms of congenital malformation and deformity', should be given a chance at a normal life.
'It is an honour that the twins' family, their doctors and the Indian government have approached a Singaporean doctor and Singaporean hospital group, ahead of any other country, to help them,' he said.
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