Pretoria: The Ministry of Health welcomes all the babies born on Christmas Day across the country, and also congratulates the parents and healthcare professionals for the successful and safe delivery of these bundles of joy on the same day millions of people around the world commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ.
Some of the provinces which recorded the first childbirths include Limpopo and Mpumalanga where the healthy babies were born exactly at 00h00 at Voortrekker Hospital in Mokopane and Temba Hospital in Kabokweni outside Mbombela.
In the Eastern Cape the first baby was born at 00h01 at Sipetu Hospital in Mount Frere.
The province of Free State recorded the first baby weighing 3,010 kg from National District Hospital in Bloemfontein at 00h04.
The North West province recorded a baby boy at 00h50 weighing 1.2kg at the JB Marks Community Health Centre. The baby was placed in the neonatal ICU at Potchefstroom Hospital and the condition of both the mother and baby is stable.
Over 500 babies were born across the country between midnight and midday on Christmas Day, and majority of them were delivered in Gauteng.
Amongst the youngest mothers include the two 15 year-old women who gave birth at Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital, in Umlazi outside Durban in KwaZulu-Natal and Tonga Hospital in Mpumalanga.
The Department wishes all mothers and babies a long and health journey of life, and reminds all mothers to ensure their babies are up-to-date with immunisation schedule accessible in the Road-to-Health Booklet, otherwise known as Clinic card, to protect them against childhood diseases such as measles.
The department will provide the consolidated statistics of all babies born on this special day across the country at a later stage
