Repose of twin souls

Heavy odds were staked against the surgery: either it could kill one or both of them or leave them in a vegetative state. Yet, the Bijani twins insisted on it; because their only ambition was to be able to look at each other than look askance as they were congenitally provided for. What a poignant metaphor for a plaintive yearning?

Much as the neurosurgeon Keith Goh of Raffles Hospital in Singapore tried to change their minds, as he said, they would still take the 50:50 chance. In their spirited longing for separate and independent living, they ended up losing whatever life they could lead if they had allowed the nature's freak to continue. The highest tribute to the invincibility of the human spirit and to the strivings for individual freedom has been writ in blood.

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The moral to draw from this unprecedented episode comes from what Ladan, the gutsy sister said in a pre-surgery press conference: "We are focused on positive thinking".

There is a surgical message as well: conjoined twins better be separated early in the day, preferably when they are babies; for, when they grow older, the risks are infinitely greater.

Overall, medical science has to reach a new threshold so that the odds against separation of conjoined twins can be reduced to the level of other life-saving surgeries.