THE BABY WITH TWO HEADS

An eight month old baby who grew a second ‘head’ has undergone surgery to have it removed. Doctors say the second head was a ‘parasitic twin’ weighed almost a kilo and had brain tissue within it.

The child, known as Tofajjal, was suffering from a rare disease called encephalomeningocele, said to affect one in 40, 000-45, 000 babies.

He has now had the ‘head’ removed in a painstaking five-hour operation, HealthIndia.com reported.

Neuro-surgeon Sisir Das, from Kolkata’s Apollo Gleneagles Hospital, told journalists outside: ‘Tofajjal was born with a rare deformity- there was a second head maturing on top of his head. ‘I have never operated on such a big lesion. It was a very critical operation and slightest slip-up during the vital surgery might have ended the life of the baby.’ He added that even returning Tofajjal to his parents was a challenge, as they live in a remote village.