Trishna and Krishna Separately to Celebrate Their Birthday

Formerly conjoined twin sisters Trishna and Krishna were discharged from an Australian hospital Monday, five weeks after their separation surgery and just in time to celebrate their third birthday.

Photo: Trishna and Krishna Separately to Celebrate Their Birthday

Doctors said the Bangladeshi-born girls had made amazing progress since the Nov. 17 surgery and were already using walkers to move around the hospital. The girls had been joined at the top of their heads and shared brain tissue and blood vessels before their separation in a 30-hour operation.

"I look forward to seeing them live a long and happy life; that's my wish for them," neurosurgeon Wirginia Maixner said in a statement released by the Royal Children's Hospital.

They will spend their birthday on Tuesday at home in Melbourne with their legal guardian, Moira Kelly.

The girls will continue to receive care as outpatients at the hospital.

In the statement, Kelly expressed her gratitude to the doctors and staff.

"They have given these two little girls a new life. I can't wait to take them home," she said.

Lovely Mollick, the girls' birth mother, was overjoyed upon learning the girls had been discharged.

"I pray for them; may God bless them," she said through tears. "Happy birthday."

An aid worker first saw Trishna and Krishna in an orphanage in Dhaka when they were a month old. Mollick, 23, had handed them over to an orphanage because she and her husband were unable to care for their special needs.

The aid worker contacted the Children First Foundation, which brought the girls to Australia for the operation.

The Associated Press has contributed to the report.