By the afternoon of 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 Wellbeing Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko congratulated parents of newborn babies delivered at public health facilities across the province.
Nkomo-Ralehoko, together with Deputy Home Minister Njabulo Nzuza and Ekurhuleni Mayor Nkosindiphile .
“Congratulations to all the families. We would like to encourage parents to ensure that their bundles of joy are vaccinated on the specific dates listed in the ‘Road to Healthcare’ booklet to protect them against diseases such as polio, tuberculosis, hepatitis, measles and meningitis. Vaccination is free at all public clinics and community health centers in the province,” Nkomo-Ralehoko said.
Nzuza urged mothers to ensure that their babies are registered with the Ministry of Home Affairs immediately after birth through offices in all public hospitals in Gauteng.
“Registration in the national population register is done through birth registration. Without this, children cannot fully access services. Through our partnership with the National Ministry of Health, 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 baby girl at 12.12am, meaning she was the first child born in the hospital was delivered. She welcomed the gifts she and other mothers were showered with and appreciated being able to immediately register her child, who was issued a birth certificate on the spot.
Nkomo-Ralehoko has also officially reopened the female medical ward 12 of the newly renovated 60-bed Tembisa Hospital, with additional oxygen and suction points, improved ventilation and a nurse call system.
In KwaZulu-Natal, Prime Minister Thami Ntuli and health member Nomagugu Simelane-Mngadi welcomed 47 babies – 21 boys and 26 girls – born on Christmas Day at healthcare facilities in the province.
Simelane-Mngadi said three 15-year-old girls were among the mothers of Christmas babies.
The Prime Minister and the MEC welcomed the Christmas babies at the Victoria Mxenge Hospital in Durban.
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