By midday on Christmas Day, 231 bundles of joy had uttered their first cries in hospitals in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
Gauteng hospitals delivered 184 new babies — 105 boys and 79 girls — on Christmas Day, with Tembisa Hospital delivering the most with 16 babies.
KwaZulu-Natal welcomed 47 babies by midday.
Gauteng MEC for health and wellness Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko congratulated parents of newborn babies delivered at public health facilities across the province.
Nkomo-Ralehoko together with deputy home affairs minister Njabulo Nzuza and Ekurhuleni mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza visited Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital on Christmas Day, where they presented mothers of newborn babies with gifts and celebrated with them as they welcomed their bundles of joy.
“Congratulations to all the families. We would like to encourage parents to ensure their bundles of joy are immunised on specified dates set out on the road to healthcare booklet to protect them against diseases such as polio, tuberculosis, hepatitis, measles and meningitis. Immunisation is free at all public clinics and community healthcare centres in the province,” said Nkomo-Ralehoko.
Nzuza urged the mothers to ensure their babies are registered with the department of home affairs immediately after birth through offices across all Gauteng public hospitals.
“The entry into the national population register is through birth registration. Without it the children cannot fully access service. Through our collaboration with the department of health nationally we have made it easier for parents to register their children by opening home affairs offices within health facilities,” said Nzuza.
A mother of one of the 16 babies delivered at Tembisa Hospital on Christmas Day, Zandile Mqumba,38, said she was grateful to have delivered a healthy girl at 00.12am, meaning she was the first child delivered at the hospital. She welcomed the gifts she and other mothers were showered with and appreciated that she was able to immediately register her child, who was issued with a birth certificate on site.
Nkomo-Ralehoko also officially reopened the newly renovated 60-bedded Tembisa Hospital’s female medical ward 12, boosting additional oxygen and suction points, improved ventilation and a nurse call system.
In KwaZulu-Natal premier Thami Ntuli and health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Mngadi welcomed 47 babies - 21 boys and 26 girls - born on Christmas Day across healthcare facilities in the province.
Simelane-Mngadi said t three 15-year-old girls were among the mothers of Christmas babiesy.
The premier and the MEC welcomed the Christmas babies at Victoria Mxenge Hospital in Durban.
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Image: Gauteng Department of health and wellness
By midday on Christmas Day, 231 bundles of joy had uttered their first cries in hospitals in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
Gauteng hospitals delivered 184 new babies — 105 boys and 79 girls — on Christmas Day, with Tembisa Hospital delivering the most with 16 babies.
KwaZulu-Natal welcomed 47 babies by midday.
Gauteng MEC for health and wellness Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko congratulated parents of newborn babies delivered at public health facilities across the province.
Nkomo-Ralehoko together with deputy home affairs minister Njabulo Nzuza and Ekurhuleni mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza visited Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital on Christmas Day, where they presented mothers of newborn babies with gifts and celebrated with them as they welcomed their bundles of joy.
“Congratulations to all the families. We would like to encourage parents to ensure their bundles of joy are immunised on specified dates set out on the road to healthcare booklet to protect them against diseases such as polio, tuberculosis, hepatitis, measles and meningitis. Immunisation is free at all public clinics and community healthcare centres in the province,” said Nkomo-Ralehoko.
Nzuza urged the mothers to ensure their babies are registered with the department of home affairs immediately after birth through offices across all Gauteng public hospitals.
“The entry into the national population register is through birth registration. Without it the children cannot fully access service. Through our collaboration with the department of health nationally we have made it easier for parents to register their children by opening home affairs offices within health facilities,” said Nzuza.
A mother of one of the 16 babies delivered at Tembisa Hospital on Christmas Day, Zandile Mqumba,38, said she was grateful to have delivered a healthy girl at 00.12am, meaning she was the first child delivered at the hospital. She welcomed the gifts she and other mothers were showered with and appreciated that she was able to immediately register her child, who was issued with a birth certificate on site.
Nkomo-Ralehoko also officially reopened the newly renovated 60-bedded Tembisa Hospital’s female medical ward 12, boosting additional oxygen and suction points, improved ventilation and a nurse call system.
In KwaZulu-Natal premier Thami Ntuli and health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Mngadi welcomed 47 babies - 21 boys and 26 girls - born on Christmas Day across healthcare facilities in the province.
Simelane-Mngadi said t three 15-year-old girls were among the mothers of Christmas babiesy.
The premier and the MEC welcomed the Christmas babies at Victoria Mxenge Hospital in Durban.
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