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One of the quintuplets born this week dies

The smallest of the quintuplets born to a Syrian couple earlier this week died on Wednesday evening due to complications, said the father.

The baby girl Aya, who weighed only 500 grammes, died at 5pm due to complications related to her low birth weight. “Aya’s internal organs were not fully developed due to which she was not getting enough oxygen,” said her father Hasan Mumzer while talking to Khaleej Times. “It was difficult for doctors to treat her.”

The couple who were expecting four babies were surprised to learn of the fifth child when the quintuplets were born at Saudi German Hospital in Dubai on Monday.

The three boys and two girls are the first children for the couple who have been married for four years. Named Amjad, Akram, Alma and Agayad, the other babies are reportedly doing fine.

Quintuplets are very rare with an average estimate of 1 in 60 million births worldwide. In the UAE, this is the second known case after an Emirati gave birth to three boys and two girls in Al Ain in 2011.

Born prematurely at 32 weeks (eight months) of pregnancy, the fraternal children weigh between 500-1200 grammes.

“God gave her to us and he took her away. It is fate,” said 33-year-old Hasan who works as a sound engineer for the Arabic language Al Aan TV.

The father said that the children were conceived without any assistive reproductive treatments or fertility drugs that are said to increase the chances of multiple births.

Hasan’s 29-year-old wife Ranim Amir Borak is recuperating from the C-section.

Doctors have said the babies need to stay in the neonatal intensive care unit for at least eight weeks. “I am worried as to how I will be able to pay the hefty bill,” he said.

Hasan has to pay Dh30,000 per day to the hospital till the babies are out of the NICU.

The father hoped that the government would partially help bear the cost of keeping the children in intensive care until they were fully recovered.

asmalizain@khaleejtimes.com