Doctors at Children’s Hospital 2 in Ho Chi Minh City have said they will perform an operation to separate two conjoined twins next month.

The surgical separation is scheduled to be carried out once the twins, born on July 24, grow to 3-4 months old, doctors said on Monday.

Doctor Pham Ngoc Thach, deputy director of the hospital, said that the twins suffer from pygopagus as the two individuals are joined at the pelvis.

Neither have anuses while one of them suffers from a congenital hip dislocation and a deformity of the right part of the rib cage.  

“Due to the large conjoined area, the inflatable skin expander will be inserted beneath the skin area at their hips in early October to grow more skin to cover their injuries after the separation,” Dr. Thach said.

Dr. Thach told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reporters that surgeons will form temporary anuses for the twins before the surgical separation to prevent post-surgical inflammation.

The twins also share the lower part of their spinal cord, which poses a huge challenge for surgeons as it may lead to post-surgical complications related to the nervous system, according to Dr. Thach.

The success rate of the surgery is 87 percent, the hospital’s deputy director added.