Rural woman collapsed after giving birth to quadruplets

Navrongo (UER), Oct. 11, GNA - A-27-year old woman from Chiana/Kanania, a farming community in Chiana in the Kassena Nankana District of the Upper East Region, collapsed after successfully delivering four babies on Monday morning.

The children, all boys weighed 2.2, 1.8, 1.5 and 1.4 kilograms each and they are all in good conditions, according to maternity ward attendants at the War Memorial Hospital in Navrongo.

Madam Abalagjara Akitera, narrating her ordeal to the GNA on her hospital bed, said, from her community to the nearest health post in Chiana was very far, therefore, when she was in labour, it took a longer time before nurses at the Chiana Health Centre could arrive, by that time, she had already delivered all the children with the help of her mother-in-law and collapsed afterwards.

Madam Akitera now has six children after three deliveries, a girl and five boys but traditional values in the district required that Akitera still gives birth once to pacify the gods to guard the quadruplets. She told the GNA in an interview that the family was poor and would not be able to take care of the children, if NGOs, individuals and the government do not stress a helping hand to ensure that the children survived.

She said all the community members were farmers, and with the unfavourable pattern of the rainfall this year, which was making life unbearable, she called on all to assist her and the children to survive. Madam Kate Akampoe, Principal Midwife Superintendent at the maternity ward told GNA that the babies and their mother were transferred to Navrongo on Monday morning and that their mother might have collapsed because of the pushing and that she was now in stable conditions. She appealed to NGOs and other corporate bodies to help Madam Akitera and her children.