A 35 year- old mother of five, Joyce Banda has given birth to quadruplets at Salima District Hospital.
The four babies who are all boys were delivered on Saturday night and were born with low weight of 1,400gms, 1,200gms, 1,200gms and 1,000 gms.
Banda who comes from Matumba Village in the area of Senior Chief Khombedza in the district has since appealed for support from well-wishers.
“I already have five children and when I was coming here I was expecting to deliver a sixth child as per our plan to have six children, but according to God’s wish I have a gift of four babies at once,” she said.
Banda said that despite that having four babies at once is a huge challenging task for her as she lives as a subsistence farmer, she is not bitter at all.
“What I can say is that I will be available to raise the children as I have done with the other children, my only call is for support of any kind from all well-wishers during the time that I am here at the hospital and when I go back to the village,” she added.
Banda who is married to Geoffrey Milanzi, said that this is not her first time to give birth to more than one as she gave birth to a set of twin babies in her previous delivery.
“As a person who relies on farming, I have had problems raising that set of twins, in terms of dividing time to work at the garden and to look after the children and I am sure I will have the same challenge,” she explained.
Band added: “My household is very poor, I am a standard five drop out while my husband did not do any form of education.”
According to the In-charge of the Maternity Ward, Benjamin Mbalati, the babies would remain at the hospital until their weight improves.
“Since they were born with low weight, we will keep them here until their weight improves to above 1.5 kilograms,” he noted.
Salima District Hospital Public Relations Officer (PRO), Angella Nyongani has said well-wishers are free to assist her.
“In her situation, she has so many needs and therefore as a hospital we will welcome well-wishers who need to assist her.”
