Sui Jianshuang and Sui Jianlian were sleeping on separate beds yesterday for the first time. Surgery on the conjoined twins at Shanghai Children's Hospital had been successful.

The twins, from a Guangdong Province children's home, will be kept at the hospital for at least two weeks for care and rehabilitation, officials said.

The six-month twins, abandoned by their parents on delivery, were connected from the chest bone to the stomach. They shared one liver, but each has her own heart, lung, kidneys and digestive system.

However, the surgery was still risky because of the shared liver and problems in separating their intestinal systems. Doctors had to carefully cut the liver in half and ensure the intestines were properly placed in each little body.

The twins were moved into the operating theater at 7:30am and surgery began at 10am. Work on the liver was completed by 12:30pm and the two girls separated just half an hour later. They were taken to the intensive care unit at 2:30pm and are expected to be there for a week.

The girls arrived in Shanghai by train from Guangdong after the children's home contacted the hospital to ask about the possibility of surgery.

"Many people expressed their concern for the two girls and came to hospital to visit them and donate money," said a hospital official.

(Shanghai Daily September 11, 2009)