More than 500 babies were born on Christmas Day in South Africa.
PHOTO: Getty, Vedrana Sucic/EyeEm
- More than 500 babies were born on Christmas Day.
- The bundles of joy are doing well.
- One was placed in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to build himself up for a lifetime of trifles and birthday gifts.
More than 500 babies were welcomed in this part of the world by noon on Christmas Day, the Department of Health announced.
Spokesman Foster Mohale said most of the Christmas babies were born in Gauteng.
Limpopo and Mpumalanga were among the first to celebrate the new arrivals, with babies born around midnight at Voortrekker Hospital in Mokopane and Temba Hospital in Kabokweni, on the outskirts of Mbombela.
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The Eastern Cape’s first baby was born at 00:01 at Sipetu Hospital in Mount Frere, while the Free State had a birth at the National District Hospital in Bloemfontein at 00:04.
In the Northwest, a boy was born at 12:50 a.m. at the JB Marks Community Health Center. He weighed just over 1kg, so he was admitted to Potchefstroom Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to help him regain his strength.
Two 15-year-old girls also welcomed Christmas babies, one at Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital in Umlazi on the outskirts of Durban and another at Tonga Hospital in Mpumalanga. The ages of the new parents were not provided.
“The Ministry of Health welcomes all the babies born on Christmas Day across the country, and also congratulates the parents and health professionals for the successful and safe delivery of these bundles of joy on the same day that millions of people around the world commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ,” Mohale said.
She reminded new parents to keep up with their babies’ immunizations, to protect their little ones against contagious but preventable diseases.
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