Separated twins moved to ward

Formerly conjoined twins Trishna and Krishna have made another great step in their recovery, leaving intensive care at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital for the first time.

The twins' shift to an ordinary ward late yesterday, a week after life-saving surgery to separate them, has thrilled their guardians and staff, hospital spokeswoman Julie Webber said.

"It's great news; great news," she said. "Staff have been in the process of transferring them through the afternoon. They are being organised now. They are in one room, which they are sharing."

The girls received one-on-one care from a nurse in the intensive care unit but will now share a nurse, Ms Webber said.

"The ward is certainly less formal (than intensive care)," she said.

The Victorian government will hold a state reception to thank the hospital team that performed the medical feat of separating Trishna and Krishna.

Victorian Premier John Brumby said up to 40 people were expected to attend the function at Government House on Thursday, including doctors, nurses, surgeons and members of the Children's First Foundation who brought the Bangladeshi twins to Australia.

"It's an opportunity just to say, on behalf of all the people of Victoria and, indeed, I think most people around Australia, thank you for the extraordinary work you've done," Mr Brumby told Fairfax Radio Network.

"We're all so proud of our Children's Hospital and we're so proud of the quality of the nurses and the staff and the doctors that we've got there.

"This was just another great example where these two children, who I think, to be honest, many of us thought were not going to get through, have come through, fingers crossed at this stage, with flying colours."

BROUGHT TO AUSTRALIA 

The girls, now nearly three years old, were born joined at the head. The Children First Foundation brought them to Australia from Bangladesh two years ago for surgery at the hospital.

Krishna's body had more to adjust to than Trishna's and she spent longer recovering under sedation after surgeons toiled for 32 hours to delicately separate their brains and reconstruct their skulls.

Krishna had drifted in and out of sleep since Friday but was now fully awake like her sister, foundation chief executive Margaret Smith said.

"We're very pleased the girls have been moved. We're as pleased as we can be," she said.

"We've just got to let these two get better in the next week or so.

"We're just marking the milestones, and this is one that has been achieved."

An emotional Moira Kelly - the Children First Foundation founder and the twins' legal guardian - revealed at the weekend she "did a big yelp" when Krishna once blew her a raspberry.

Ms Kelly had said she would not relax until the signature raspberry appeared, indicating the toddler had pulled through the surgery.

Ms Webber said all the signs so far had been positive for the girls but they still needed more recovery.

"Their vital signs are still being watched, how they are feeding, how their vital organs appear," she said.

"(Neurosurgeon) Wirginia Maixner said she could see no damage to the brains; the MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) looked good.

"As for the ability of their brains to further develop and recover, that will be assessed along the way.

"They have still got a way to go."

Their mother, Lavlee Mollik, 23, handed over her girls to an orphanage in Dhaka only a month after their birth because she and husband Kartik, 35, were unable to care for them, it was reported at the weekend.

She said she would like the girls to be raised and educated in Australia.

- AAP