A day after the birth of quintuplets to a Baldia Town couple, two of the five babies died during treatment at a private hospital on Wednesday, doctors and family members confirmed.
Both the deceased infants were boys, while the three surviving girls remain under critical care in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of the health facility. The quintuplets — three girls and two boys — were delivered prematurely via emergency C-section at just 29 weeks of gestation, far earlier than the full-term benchmark of 37 to 40 weeks.
Weighing significantly below average and with severely underdeveloped lungs, the newborns were immediately placed on oxygen support following delivery. Hospital officials had earlier termed the birth “extremely rare and high-risk,” cautioning that the first few weeks would be crucial. Unfortunately, despite intensive neonatal intervention, the two male infants could not survive the complications associated with premature births, including respiratory distress and infections.
“The babies were born extremely premature and with very low birth weight, which severely limits their chances of survival, even with advanced NICU support,” a senior neonatologist at the hospital told The News. “We are doing everything possible to stabilize the remaining three.”
The father, Adnan Sheikh, who works as a driver for a private company, shared his sorrow and hope in the wake of the tragedy. “We were overjoyed yesterday, and today we are grieving. Still, I am praying with all my heart for the lives of my daughters,” he said, adding that his wife was in stable condition after surgery.