Kenyan Woman Births 5 in Tanzania as Doctors Strike

Bahati Tabu, a Kenyan woman, has given birth to five children in a hospital in Tanzania, after fleeing the health workers strike in Kenya.

Thirty-seven-year-old Tabu, a single Mother from Taveta, Kenya, gave birth to quintuplets at Faraja Health Centre in the Kilimanjaro Region on December 11th, according to the Citizen.

She reportedly crossed in to Tanzania to seek medical attention due to the medical workers’ strike taking place in her country.

Earlier in the month, health workers in Kenyan government hospitals — through the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) — announced the commencement of a nationwide strike to drive home their demands for improved work conditions and better remunerations.

The actions by KMPDU saw nearly 5,000 health personnel, including doctors, pharmacists, clinicians, and dentists in more than 2,700 public health facilities, stay away from work posts, crippling the public health system.

Consequently, Tabu went on to give birth to five babies, four boys and one girl in Tanzania, but tragically, out of the five, only the girl, who was born first, survived.

Afterward, Tabu said of her experiences, “My neighbors decided to bring me to Himo, where I eventually gave birth. I was, however, devastated to hear that four had died, but that is God’s will.”

Tabu explained further that since she is an indigent single Mother, her medical expenses were paid by the good will of friends and neighbors.

“I divorced my husband of 20 years several years ago. Almost all my children are dependent on me, and I do menial jobs, which at least enable us to live to see the next day. The man with whom I had this last child walked out on me after we had a rocky relationship,” she said.

Meanwhile, the medical director in charge of the Faraja Health Centre, Dr. Samuel Minja, explained Tabu’s labor further, “We immediately took her to the delivery room, where she started to give birth in quick succession.

“Her first baby was a girl weighing 600 grams who survived. She then delivered three baby boys who died shortly after they were born.

“We thought that it was all over, when we realized that there was still one more baby in the womb. The fifth baby, also a boy, was born after half an hour, but died after a few minutes.”