culture

News of quintuplets’ birth amazes whole country

Pak Kyong Sim, a 28-year-old woman living in neighbourhood unit No. 76 in Janghyon-dong, Moranbong District in Pyongyang, gave birth to quintuplets (three girls and two boys), the first of their kind in the DPRK, on January 31.

The news of the birth of the quintuplets born in this significant year of the 45th anniversary of the completion of the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital, which all women of the country call their parents’ home, delighted the people across the country.

“Will the quintuplets be safe?”

“The doctors and nurses of the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital are staying up all night for the resuscitation of the quintuplets.”

On June 19, 140 days after their birth, the quintuplets left the hospital in good health thanks to its medical workers, amid the blessings of its doctors and nurses and many other people.

At that time, the quintuplets all weighed more than 4.7kg and the fourth (boy) of them weighed as much as 6.48kg.

Now they are growing up healthily at the Pyongyang Baby Home located in the best place on the banks of the Taedong River, enjoying the benefits of the state.

140 days of sincere efforts

“The natural occurrence rate of quintuplets pregnancy is only 0.000000015% worldwide,” said Pak Song Bong, deputy director of the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital. “Previously quintuplets were born from time to time in different countries, but most of them were neglected because their resuscitation required the most advanced medical technology and huge funds.”

When Pak Kyong Sim, who was getting treatment at the hospital after being diagnosed as having multiple pregnancy, gave birth to the quintuplets on January 31, the babies were in a critical condition.

At that time the infants weighed only 1.28kg, 1.58kg, 1.29kg, 1.42kg and 1.11kg and were considerably poorer in nutrition and immunity than triplets or quadruplets.

The second and fourth babies showed spotted skin and central neuropathic symptoms caused by hypoxia, the third failed to cry at birth, and the fifth showed a sharp decrease in weight, worrying all the medical workers of the hospital.

With a determination to resuscitate the babies, the medical workers pooled their skills, wisdom and efforts.

Each of the babies was put under the care of a doctor, senior doctor, and department head along with the formation of strong treatment, auxiliary diagnosis test, medicine supply and hygiene and anti-epidemic teams, and consultative meetings were often held for their resuscitation.

Scientific treatment methods, including those of ensuring neutral temperature in incubators and controlling environment by means of a noise measurement program, were introduced and the Okryu Children's Hospital and other central-level hospitals joined in the relevant treatments. Authoritative veteran doctors also helped the medical workers while staying by the incubators.

When they saw the relevant test results showing that their resuscitation entered a successful stage more than 50 days after the beginning of the intensive care, the doctors and nurses embraced each other in tears of joy.

The medical workers also made a sincere effort to nurse the mother of the quintuplets back to health.

At that time, the woman showed the contraction insufficiency of the womb due to its hyperextension. There were suggestions that the womb be extracted because if it was left in such state, it might become seriously inflamed, having a negative effect on the restoration of her health. The medical workers, however, pooled their wisdom and skills to restore the woman back to health.

After hearing that a young couple in Moranbong District had quintuplets, officials of the Ministry of Public Health, the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office and many other institutions and industrial establishments and Pyongyang citizens sent various rare medicines and materials to the Pyongyang Maternity Hospital.

Thanks to the sincerity of such kind people, the quintuplets grew up healthily day by day and their mother was restored to health.

“But for the loving care of the motherly Party and the benefits of the socialist public health system, our children, whose lives hung in the balance, would not have been alive. The great socialist family defended and tended by our Party, the greatest and most benevolent in the world, and our system is like the parents’ home of all of us,” Son Chung Hyo and Pak Kyong Sim, parents of the quintuplets, said with excitement.

They gave the babies names with the Korean letters Chung, Song, Ta, Ha and Ri respectively in the hope that they will be faithful to the socialist motherland to return its great favour.