The Kenyatta National Hospital has confirmed the passing on of the quintuplets that were successfully delivered through natural birth at the Thika Level 5 Hospital.
The last of the 5 , a boy, passed away today adding to the grief of the mother Mercy Kanini who had lost 2 of her babies within 2 hrs after birth and another two, 48 hours after birth.
The babies were referred to KNH for specialized tertiary care after their rare birth.
It is estimated that only 5 cases of quintuplets have been recorded in Kenyan history.
“Despite the dedicated efforts of our medical teams and the specialized care provided, all five newborns sadly passed away.” KNH Acting CEO Dr. Joel Lessan has confirmed.
Dr. Lessan has said the babies were born prematurely with critical low birth weight, presenting a difficult challenge to medics at Kenya’s biggest referral hospital.
“The babies were born at an extremely premature gestational age of 25 weeks.” He said.
“Our multidisciplinary Neonatal team, comprising Neonatologists, nurses and allied health professionals, provided specialized care and made every effort to support the babies.” The CEO added.
The mother, Mercy Kanini, went to labour on September 13th and was admitted to the maternity ward at around 7am before giving birth to all five infants by 10:56am.
