Conjoined twin girls were delivered yesterday morning at a maternity hospital and transferred immediately to Fudan University Children's Hospital.

The girls' parents are farmers from Zhejiang Province. The twins were joined at the stomach and pelvis. They share one liver, one spleen, one gallbladder and one digestive system.

"One baby has complicated congenital heart disease while the other has congenital problems with the pulmonary artery," said Dr Zheng Shan from the children's hospital. "Neither is in critical condition."

Doctors said further examinations will be made and it may take several days before experts finalize surgery plans to separate the girls.

Chen yanfen was discovered carrying conjoined babies in the 22nd week of pregnancy in her hometown of Taizhou.

She said they have not decided on names for the girls.

The couple went to the Shanghai Maternity and Children's Health Hospital for further examination and delivery.

"We were so anxious when we learned the babies were connected," said Chen, 31. "Still we hoped they would get through the difficulty and we traveled to Shanghai because it has the best medical facilities in China."

Officials from Fudan University's Children's Hospital said it has established a newborn monitoring and transport network with three major maternity hospitals. It provides prenatal checks for high risk pregnancies, as well as quick treatment for sick infants.

The conjoined twins were born at 8:30 AM yesterday, in the 36 1/2 week of Chen's pregnancy. According to medical experts, nearly 45 cases of conjoined twins are born in the world every year.

(Shanghai Daily August 26, 2005)