Afghan woman gives birth to six babies
An Afghan mother yesterday gave birth to six babies at a hospital located in Mazar-e-Sharif, a city in the north of Afghanistan.
The woman wasn’t aware of the fact that she was carrying such an amount of children and hadn’t received fertility treatment. Medical experts say that the mother turned up at her nearest hospital on Monday before giving birth to three of each sex in what was her first-ever pregnancy.
Doctors say that giving birth to six children without any fertility treatment is remarkably rare. As has been well documented, Afghanistan is near the top of the list of countries with the highest maternal and infant mortality rate. Known as Sharah, aged 24, the mother arrived at Mazar-e-Sharif hospital after having travelled a vast distance from her remote village in the heart of Balkh province.
Provincial Health Director Mr Mirwais Rabi spoke to foreign news reporters and told of how each one of the six babies are doing well but are under-weight. Mr Rabi said that the sextuplets are being kept inside incubators while a specially-appointed team of doctors and nurses are looking after them.
Sharah is reported to be healthy but exhausted. Doctors have insisted that had they already known the mother was carrying six babies, her presence at their hospital would have been requested several days in advance. Understandably, the story has been a media sensation in Afghanistan.