India’s first all-male quintuplets born to Thane couple

THANE - The country’s first all-male set of quintuplets was born to a Thane couple at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Mumbai Friday, a hospital spokesperson said Saturday.

The mother, Sabira Ubaid Khan, 23, and her five children are doing well at the hospital’s advanced tertiary care facility, with an eight-member team of medicos attending to them, the spokesperson said.

Ubaid Khan, the proud father, said that the infants were delivered within a three minute gap Friday.

Sabira had been pregnant for about 29 weeks at the time of delivery, her second in two years.

Giving full marks to the hospital authorities, Khan told IANS that it was possible due to the excellent infrastructure, team effort and perfect liaison between the medicos.

For instance, apart from extensive pre-delivery preparations and mock drills, the medical team had kept five sets of ventilators, five incubators and five sets of nurses to take care of the quintuplets.

The couple - residing in Naya Nagar area of Mira Road, a suburb in Mumbai’s adjoining Thane district, were referred to the hospital on account of certain pre-delivery complications in Sabira, calling for extensive management.

Citing statistics, the spokesperson said that only 16 sets of quintuplets have been born without ovulation-inducing drugs in the world so far.

“Ours is the 17th one in the world. In India, there have been five sets of quintuplets out of which two were stillborn, the third and fourth set were born but died within two hours. The fourth set of quintuplets were delivered at Lucknow but they were undiagnosed and two died,” he said.

Khan, who runs a garments business in Mira Road, said that it would be a challenge for him, his wife and family to look after and rear the quintuplets - “Allah’s gift in the holy month of Ramzan” - as he put it.

He said that last year, the couple had their first child, a boy (10 month old now) named Mohammed Kamal Khan.

“The second time, the almighty has been more than bountiful to us. We only seek the people’s prayers to see us through this challenge in our lives,” he said.

The quintuplets are expected to remain in hospital for at least the next two months till they gain weight and strength to face the world.

The medical team was led by Suchitra N. Pandit and included Maya Gade, Jatinder Kaur, obstetrician and gynaecologist Chaitali Kale, neonatal and paediatric intensivists Vinay Joshi and Preetha Joshi, along with anaesthesiologist Sharmila Ranade, Mohan and Harshal Wagh and a team of nurses.

Khan said that after his wife and his five new sons are discharged, there would be a “big celebration” at home.