Events surrounding a Kakamega woman who gave birth to quintuplets have taken a bizarre twist after Luhya elders warned that three among babies needed to be killed to save the two.
Evelyn Namukhula gave birth to the five babies on Wednesday, March 13, at Kakamega County Referral hospital only for them to be referred to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) Eldoret after developing breathing complications.
As at Friday, March 15, Namukhula had not breastfed the babies for fear of the wrath of the anscestors.
Another elder said the mother of nine needed to be applied with special traditional ointment on the mammary glands so that she could begin breastfeeding the little angels.
Meanwhile, MTRH CEO Wilson Aruasa said three of the quintuplets were in stable but the others had been put under special care.
“They were referred here after developing breathing complications. Among the preterm babies, two are unstable and the other three are out of danger,” said Aruasa
Speaking to the press on Friday, March 15, elders from Namukhula's husband's family said customs dictated that a woman could only take care of two babies at ago thus the theree others needed to be "eliminated."
They argued that elimination of the three would allow the mother to breastfeed and successfully raise the two other.
"According to our tradition, one is not supposed to give birth to more than two children. If that happens we consider it a bad omen and the extra three children need to be eliminated. If she breastfeeds more than two she'll lose all the five,"said one of the elders
According to the doctor, the babies and their mother might stay at the facility for at least three months to allow doctors monitor and ensure the baby grow up well.
The babies are also said to be below the required minimum weight, a complication doctors said was caused by premature birth.
Hospital’s head of the paediatric unit, Eric Ngetich, said the children were born 10 weeks earlier and their survival chances vary according to their weights.
The least of them weighed 820 grams while the heaviest 1.4 kilogram.