Dubai: Young Emirati gives birth to quintuplets in 'extremely rare' case

Born in their 29th week, the five babies weighed an average of only around 1kg but they were able to breathe on their own

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File photo used for illustrative purposes
File photo used for illustrative purposes

Published: Tue 21 Mar 2023, 12:06 PM

Last updated: Tue 21 Mar 2023, 7:59 PM

A young Emirati mother managed to pull through a high-risk pregnancy and recently gave birth to quintuplets.

Her five bundles of joy — delivered minutes apart at Latifa Hospital in Dubai — were born premature at 29 weeks and with an average weight of only 1.2kg. But all is well for the young mother and her babies, who are all in good health, doctors confirmed.


“The newborns breathe without respiratory support, feed well, and are gaining weight under close supervision of the neonatologists and nurses of Latifa Hospital," said Dr Mahmoud El Halik, consultant neonatologist and head of the neonatology section at the hospital.

A quintuplet pregnancy is "extremely rare", said Dr Fadi Mirza, medical director and director of the Department of Obstetrics at Latifa Hospital.


"[There's only] one in 55 million cases in the world, and it requires an integrated and specialised medical team to manage such a case from the pregnancy to delivery and postnatal,” said Dr Mirza.

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Dr Abeer Nouman, consultant for obstetrics and gynaecology at Latifa Hospital, said specialists — including the Maternal Fetal Medicine Unit — had monitored the woman's case very closely.

“At 29 weeks, the patient presented with preterm labour, and a full team (obstetrics, neonatology, anesthesiology and nursing) was on board for the best expected outcome," Dr Abeer said.

Latifa Hospital handles an average of 4,000 births annually. It is one of the UAE's largest maternity and children’s hospitals and has the largest intensive care unit for newborns and premature infants in Dubai and the Northern Emirates.


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