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Rabat – A pregnant Malian woman who had flown to Morocco, on March 30, for better medical care has successfully given birth to nine babies in a local hospital.
Mali’s health ministry said in a statement that initial ultrasound examinations, both in Morocco and Mali, led the doctors to believe that the 25-year-old was carrying seven babies. Even though for a woman to successfully carry nonuplets is exceedingly rare, the Malian government reports that Cisse is “doing well.”
Despite the buzz on social, local, and international media, as well as confirmation from Mali’s Ministry of Health, Moroccan Health Ministry Spokesman Rachid Koudhari denied any knowledge of such a birth having taken place in any of Morocco’s hospitals.
Still, Mali’s Health Minister Fanta Siby said in a statement that, “The newborns (five girls and four boys) and the mother are all doing well.”
Read also: What You Need to Know About Giving Birth in Morocco
The Minister also told the Agence France-Presse that she had been kept up-to-date by the Malian doctor who flew to Morocco with the 25-year-old.
Siby congratulated both medical teams, from Mali and Morocco, “whose professionalism is at the origin of the happy outcome of this pregnancy.”
The minister also thanked Mali’s President of the Transition, Bah N’Daw, “whose political leadership and generosity made it possible to expedite and ensure the financial support of the medical evacuation of Halima Cisse.”
The ministry’s press release concluded with, “on behalf of the Government of Mali,” wishing Cissie and her babies “a long life.”
Generally, nonuplets are extremely rare, and furthermore, medical complications on such occasions often mean that some of the babies do not reach full term.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, “the first recorded set of nonuplets was born June 13, 1971, when an Australian woman gave birth to five boys and four girls,” of which two boys were stillborn, and the remaining seven infants died within a week.
