The number of babies is expected to rise. Photo: Gauteng Health Department
The Bertha Gxowa Hospital in Germiston has so far welcomed eleven babies on Christmas Day including two sets of twins.
The number of babies is expected to rise.
Gauteng MEC for Health and Wellness, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko was at the hospital on Christmas day to welcome the newborns to the world.
Nkomo-Ralehoko celebrated with the mothers of the newborns and presented them with gifts.
“Today we are sitting at eleven and we have two sets of twins, that’s quite interesting and I was complaining because there are more male than females because I wanted us to have more females than boys.”
“Here in this facility, every month we are having five hundred babies that are born,” she said.
ALSO READ: Christmas time in pictures
Nkomo-Ralehoko has encouraged the new mothers of the Christmas babies to breastfeed and register their babies at the Department of Home Affairs offices based at Gauteng hospitals, as well as promote immunisation.
“Because if you breastfeed, it brings you more closer to your child. The other thing, when you give birth – make sure that all your necessary documents are ready.
“This is so that your child can have documents through home affairs because we are working very close with them. This was put in place so that they can leave the hospital with the child’s documentation in hand.”
“They must also go to the clinics to make sure the children go for quite a number of injections at that early age to protect them from diseases and that is what we want to encourage them to do,” Nkomo-Ralehoko added.
In 2021, the Gauteng province welcomed 403 newborns into the world.
Meanwhile, Nkomo-Ralehoko is also expected join the Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla, at the Tambo Memorial Hospital to assess the impact of the Boksburg gas tanker explosion on the functioning of the hospital.
Ten people, of which two were children, died in the blast on Saturday.
It’s understood that the gas tanker exploded as the firefighters were busy extinguishing the flames.
At least 37 other people, including six firefighters, were reported to have been injured in the explosion.
ALSO READ: Gift of the Givers responds to Boksburg gas tanker explosion
Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.
