On Tuesday, a Malian woman gave birth to nonuplets in Morocco, and all nine babies are “doing well,” according to her government, though Moroccan authorities have yet to confirm what would be an extremely unusual occurrence.
On March 30, Mali’s government flew Halima Cisse, a 25-year-old woman from the country’s north, to Morocco for better treatment. Initially, she was thought to be carrying septuplets.
Women who successfully bear septuplets to term are extremely rare, and nonuplets are even rarer.
Rachid Koudhari, a spokesman for the Moroccan health ministry, said he was unaware of such a multiple birth in one of the country’s hospitals.
Cisse had given birth by Caesarean section to five girls and four boys, according to Mali’s health ministry.
“So far, the mother and babies are doing well,” Mali’s Health Minister Fanta Siby told AFP, adding that the Malian doctor who accompanied Cisse to Morocco had kept her updated.
They are due to return home in several weeks’ time, she added.
According to local press accounts, doctors were worried about Cisse’s health as well as her babies’ chances of survival.
Ultrasound scans performed in both Mali and Morocco indicated that Cisse was carrying seven infants, according to Mali’s health ministry.
Siby expressed her gratitude to “the medical teams of Mali and Morocco, whose expertise is at the root of this pregnancy’s happy outcome.”
According to AFP