Krishna and Trishna continue to be in a serious but stable condition in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit.

The operation to separate the formerly conjoined twins was completed yesterday afternoon, after a mammoth effort from neurosurgery, plastic surgery and anaesthetic teams.

RCH Chief of Surgery A/Professor Leo Donnan said the girls were doing remarkably well after a very good night.

He said the staff’s attention is focused on how the girls adjust from the brain operation and the subsequent changes to body functions.

“Before the operation, these girls shared a number of systems, including kidney, stomach and blood pressure.  They will slowly be weaned off support when these functions improve for each.”

Already Krishna’s kidneys are showing signs of improvement.  Previously, her sister’s kidneys were doing the work for the both of them, meaning Trishna was the only twin passing urine.  Now Krishna is passing urine too.

A/Professor Donnan says even though the girls are heavily sedated, the hospital has taken care to make them feel as comfortable as possible.

“We are trying to ensure the girls are in an environment with people around that know them very well, not only the team from Children First Foundation, but also our nurses and doctors,” he said.

The twins’ cots are placed as close as possible to each other, hindered only by the enormous amount of equipment the girls are connected to.

A/Professor Donnan said there is a sense of elation around the hospital that the girls are doing as well as they are up to this point.

“Comments from colleagues overseas are quite amazing.  These are our home-grown surgeons and we should be very proud.”