By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Health, Nomagugu Simelane at Addington Hospital, Durban to welcome Christmas babies. Picture: Twitter / @kznhealth.
The Gauteng Department of Health has revealed that 214 babies were born on Christmas Day, so far.
The statistics released by the department on Saturday afternoon fell between midnight and 12pm on 25 December.
According to the stats,of the newborns, 45 babies were born in academic hospitals – Steve Biko Academic Hospital (six), Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital (five), Dr George Mukhari Hospital (nine), and Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (25).
In addition, nine babies were born at community healthcare centres – Discoverers MOU (seven) and Ebony Park CHC (two).
Lastly, 133 were born in various regional and district hospitals in the province. Of the 133 babies, one set of twins (male and female) were born at the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital.
Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi, the executive mayor of the Emfuleni Local Municipality, Sipho Radebe, and Sedibeng District Municipality MMC for Health Lola Khunou visited Sebokeng Hospital to welcome the newborns on Saturday morning.
“I want to take this opportunity to thank healthcare workers who are working throughout this period. It has been a difficult time since the global Covid-19 pandemic hit, having to cope with their own fears and anxieties and still ensuring that the people of Gauteng receive the best service when visiting health facilities.
“Thank you for always making Christmas time cheerful and filled with love to mothers and their newborns,” Mokgethi said.
She also encouraged mothers to opt for breastfeeding their babies, stating it was essential and had many health benefits for newborns.
Meanwhile Public healthcare facilities in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) saw the delivery of 59 babies on Christmas Day.
KZN saw 35 boys and 24 girls born on Saturday as of 12pm.
The province’s health MEC,Nomagugu Simelane said the first Christmas baby was a boy, born at King Edward VIII Hospital in Durban.
The baby boy was born to a 39 year-old mother.
Simelane also indicated that five mothers were aged 18 or younger, further expressing her concern over the teenage mothers.
“We are nevertheless concerned that the youngest among these mothers are two 16 year-olds, who gave birth at Nkonjeni and Itshelejuba Hospitals, both in Zululand district.
“We also have a 17 year-old and two 18 year-olds, who delivered at Itshelejuba, Benedictine (again in Zululand District) and Osindisweni Hospital, here in eThekwini.
“When you look at these cases, what becomes glaring is that these girls had sex when they were about a year younger than they are, which means girls aged 15, 16, and 17 years old were engaging in sexual intercourse,” she said.
In North West, at least 43 babies including a set of twins – a boy and a girl – were delivered across the province.
The twins were born in the Bojanala district, which had the most newborn babies on Christmas Day.
According to the provincial health department spokesperson, Tebogo Lekgethwane, Bojanala saw a total of nine girls and five boys followed by the Dr Kenneth Kaunda district municipality with 11 newborn babies.