One-year-old Aaradhna, who was separated by her conjoined sister Stuti a fortnight back, passed away on Thursday night.
The conjoined sisters were separated after a team of 23 doctors and 11 nurses from India and Australia performed a 12-hour operation at Padhar Hospital in Madhya Pradesh on June 20.
According to doctors, Aaradhna was not doing well unlike her sister after the surgery. On Thursday afternoon she developed septicemia and had two heart attacks, which deteriorated her condition and caused her death.
The toddler was reportedly put on ventilator and was given high dose of antibiotics. However, all attempts to save her life turned futile.
"She had been off the ventilator for only two days, and had breathing difficulties. So, we had to put her back on the ventilator. Then she contracted an infection. Though she was on a very high dose of antibiotics, the infection spread through her blood," a leading daily reported Chief hospital administrator Bajirao Gawai as saying.
Aaradhna endured the first heart attack at around 8 p.m. and doctors were able to revive her. Sometime later, the toddler suffered another attack which doctors couldn't save her from.
"The conjoined sister Aradhana passed away at 9:20 pm on Thursday," Dr Rajiv Choudhrie, medical superintendent of Padhar hospital, said.
On July 2, the twins celebrated their first birthday, with Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan attending the occasion. During the celebration, only Stuti was brought out in public, while Aaradhana was left behind due to her ongoing treatments.
"The doctors kept on saying that everything will be fine with the sisters. I don't know why this happened to my daughter. I cannot believe that Aaradhana is no more with us," Maya Yadav, their mother, said.
The sisters were born last year into a poor family and their father was a famer in a Madhya Pradesh village. Delivered through an emergency caesarean section, the sisters were underweight at only 2.8 kilogrammes.
Due to the complications of the twin's birth, the parents were unable to care for them and left them in the hospital. Since then, the sisters were looked after by the hospital authorities and had special nurses allotted to them.
After the successful surgery that separated the twins, the girls' parents agreed to take them home. "We are happy that they will finally get to be a family and both the girls will get a proper home," Vikas Sonwani, assistant administrator of Paddar Hospital, told Daily Mail.
