CNN.com - Separated Singapore twins going home
Sophia Aguilar
Published Apr 12, 2026
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SINGAPORE -- After more than a year in Singapore General Hospital, conjoined twins Ganga and Jamuna Shrestha, who were separated in a 100-hour operation in Singapore, are finally going home.
The Nepalese girls and their family will not return to their hometown of Khalanga, but will move instead to the capital of Katmandu, close to the hospital where they will continue to undergo treatment.
But doctors said at news conference in Singapore that the future of the 18-month-old girls remains uncertain due to the delicate nature of their condition.
"We can't really tell for sure what type of disability they will end up with, but there will be some kind of disability," said Prof. Ho Lai Yun, a member of the team of doctors who operated on the twins.
Dr. Keith Goh, who coordinated the landmark surgery to separate the girls who were born joined at the head, said the operation had left them with heads shaped differently from other children.
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He said the girls will not be like any other children when they grow up, and could face social challenges as a result.
But at least, he said, the girls are separated and that they look much better now than when they were still conjoined.
Complications
Nepalese doctor Bansant Pant, who will be in charge of the twins' medical care in Kathmandu, said that he does not foresee major problems.
He added that Singapore doctor could always fly to Nepal to treat the girls should complications arise.
Both girls have battled a number of serious infections as their skulls healed after the surgery.
Doctors separated hundreds of intertwined blood vessels and strands of connecting tissue, which joined the girls' brains.
The separated girls had to have their heads rebuilt with synthetic materials and covered with skin grafted from other parts of their bodies.
Following the separation, Ganga -- who has not recovered as fast as her sister -- underwent more surgery to repair her cleft palate and lip.
