A 25-year-old Malian woman on Tuesday gave birth to nine babies, two more than doctors had detected inside her womb.
Reuters reported that the pregnancy of Halima Cisse, 25, has fascinated the West African nation and attracted the attention of its leaders.
The Mali Government flew Cisse to Morocco in March after doctors recommended special care for her. She has given birth after five weeks at the Moroccan hospital
“The newborns (five girls and four boys) and the mother are all doing well,” Mali’s health minister, Fanta Siby, said in a statement.
She offered her congratulations to “the medical teams of Mali and Morocco, whose professionalism is at the origin of the happy outcome of this pregnancy.”
The mother and the children are expected to return home after several weeks.
Cisse was expected to give birth to seven babies, according to ultrasounds conducted in Morocco and Mali that missed two of the siblings. All were delivered by caesarean section.
Nonuplets are extremely rare. Medical complications in multiple births of this kind often mean that some of the babies do not reach full term.
