DURBAN - WHILE many families celebrated Christmas, health-care workers in KwaZulu-Natal were busy delivering 91 healthy “bundles of joy” on Saturday.
The Department of Health celebrated at Addington Hospital, where more than 10 babies were born.
MEC Nomagugu Simelane was elated over the successful delivery of the newborns.
“We are pleased to have welcomed 91 Christmas babies from health-care facilities across the province. The province’s first Christmas baby, a boy, was born at Durban’s King Edward VIII Hospital to a 39-year-old mother. He arrived on the stroke of midnight, weighing in at 2.82kg. We wish the mothers everything of the best as they begin this new journey with their little ones,” said Simelane.
The MEC sounded an alarm on the number of teenage pregnancies in the province.
“We are ... concerned that the youngest among these mothers are two 16-year-olds, who gave birth at Nkonjeni and Itshelejuba hospitals, both in Zululand District. We also have a 17-year-old and two 18-year-olds, who delivered at Itshelejuba, Benedictine (again in Zululand District) and Osindisweni Hospital, here in eThekwini.
“When you look at these cases, what becomes glaring is that these girls had sex when they were about a year younger than they are (now), which means girls aged 15, 16 and 17 years old were engaging in sexual intercourse.”
She said conceiving at such a young age could be dangerous for both mother and child, adding that a mother who was too young was not psychologically and physiologically ready to bear a child.
“But we also want to be clear that older men who impregnate these young girls must be arrested and made to face the full might of the law, because what they are doing is statutory rape. They are taking advantage of girls who are economically vulnerable.”
Simelane said vaccination among pregnant mothers was relatively low, adding that this was extremely concerning because vaccination was safe for pregnant mothers.
The MEC also provided an update on the number of Covid-19 cases, as the province reached the peak of the holiday season. She said the numbers of new cases were still high and remained a cause of concern.
“Within ... less than one week, our province has sadly lost 71 people, which gives a total of 14 923 fatalities. May their souls rest in peace. We would also like to send our deepest condolences to the families of the 424 health-care workers who sadly succumbed to the pandemic. We know that for some, this will be the first time they will be spending Christmas without these loved ones. We want them to know that our thoughts and prayers are with them at this time, and we wish them all the strength that they may need.”
Simelane said the department could never overemphasise the need for people to vaccinate.
“It has been found that those who have become severely ill or passed away have been people who had not been vaccinated.”
According to the department, 2.75 million of the 7 million people in KwaZulu-Natal eligible to be vaccinated have done so.
“We have established vaccination sites all over the province – including pop-up sites, as well as drive-through sites – in order to make it easier and more accessible for people to get vaccinated, free of charge,” said Simelane.
Daily News