Woman delivers quadruplets at TTH

Mrs Patricia Braimah, a 44-year old resident of Kpalsi in the Sagnarigu District near Tamale on Thursday gave birth to quadruplets at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH).

The four children, two males weighing 1.8 kilogrammes (kg) each, and two females 1.5kg and 1.4kg, have been placed in incubators at the NICU.

Mrs Braimah became pregnant through the in-vitro fertilization (IVF) method and the doctors at NICU of TTH monitored the pregnancy for up to 34 weeks before delivery.

IVF is the process of fertilization by manually combining an egg and sperm in a laboratory dish, and then transferring the embryo to the uterus.

Dr Solomon Gumanga, Consultant Obstetrician Gynaecologist at TTH, who performed a caesarean surgery, to remove the babies from the womb of the woman, told the Ghana News Agency that the babies were breathing well, adding that the prognosis was well, and they could soon be discharged.

Dr Gumanga said the surgical operation was successful because of the specializ\ed support services provided by the NICU of TTH, which had become a referral centre for such cases from the three northern regions.

The GNA gathered that this was the second time in six years after TTH had performed a caesarean surgery on a pregnant woman to deliver quadruplets.

Dr Gumanga said becoming pregnant with quadruplets was a rare occurrence with the chances of having it being one in half a million to about 700,000 births, but it was now common because of IVF.

Meanwhile, Mrs Braimah is recovering well at the ward.