Hospital authorities to hand surviving sextuplets to orphanage

The three survivors of a set of

sextuplets delivered at Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital,

Sagamu, Ogun State, last February, would be discharged on Tuesday by

the hospital authority, NEXT has learnt.

The sextuplets were delivered after a

caesarian operation on their mother, Amudat Bello,31, who died a few

days after, as a result of complications from the birth. Three of the

underweight babies soon lost their lives .

The birth holds the record of the

highest number of babies delivered in one birth, in Nigeria. There have

been two other cases of the birth of quadruplutes - one in Abeokuta,

Ogun State and another in Kano.

The father of the sextuplets, Lukman

Bello, who works as a battery charger, had attempted to run away

following the delivery of the children. He said that he was too poor to

take care of the children.

He also renounced his paternity, given

up his rights over them as a result. The authorities of the hospital

have therefore decided to hand the infants over to a motherless babies’

home, the Save-Our-Soul Children Village, at Owu- Ijebu.

The Board Chairman of the Olabisi

Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OSUTH), Femi Ajayi, confirmed

that the babies were in good health and will be discharged tomorrow.

The death of the children and their

mother, seven months ago, threw the teaching hospital into turmoil,

although the hospital management have been taking care of these

children since their delivery.

The hospital’s management opened an

account for the infants at Skye Bank, with the account name:

OOUTH/BELLO SEXTUPLET and account number 2511770007072, where people

and organisations could donate money for their upkeep.

Unexpected deaths

When the babies were found to be

underweight, three of them were referred to Lagoon Hospital, Apapa

-Lagos, where they eventually died. The death of the mother was more

controversial, since her health had improved when she suddenly suffered

a relapse. Peter Adefuye, who led the medical team which took delivery

of the birth, said he still could not reconcile himself to the death of

Mrs Bello.

“The operation was like any other,” he

said. “Both the mother and the children were in stable condition while

the three babies with low weight of 600 gramms were referred to Lagoon

Hospital, Apapa, Lagos. She was stable after the operation, even

attended to visitors, including the governor. No one had any symptom of

her having any problem. We did our best.

“My records are there for scrutiny. How it turned round remain a

mystery. God knows best. All hands were on deck, it was a sudden

complication, and we used oxygen to stabilise her.”