Posted by Samuel on Sat 05th Oct, 2024 - tori.ng
Mrs Okpako expressed fears that the medical bill to discharge herself and the four babies would be too much for her to pay.
Mrs Victory Okpako, a 34-year-old woman, has delivered a set of quadruplets in Warri, Delta State.
The woman, who before now is a mother of a nine-year-old boy, delivered the babies at Shepherd Hospital & Fertility Centre, a private hospital in Edjeba Community, on October 1, Nigeria’s Independence Day.
The four babies are doing well and are in the incubator at the hospital, Daily Post reports.
Mrs Okpako expressed fears that the medical bill to discharge herself and the four babies would be too much for her to pay.
She pointed out that her husband, a businessman, is in the streets struggling to raise money but hasn’t gotten a dime.
She said although they’ve not been given the total bill, they spend N200,000 daily to take care of the babies, aside from the original bill that will come.
She expressed happiness for the delivery of the babies, saying, “The money to take care of them is what we are looking for.”
Okpako, who owns a chemist shop where she also sells cosmetics, appealed to the Delta State Government, non-governmental organisations and the general public for financial assistance to care for the children.
“Anybody, government and non-governmental organisations can help me. They should please do, because I need these children. I don’t want them to go just like that. I have suffered for them. They should raise money for me to care for these children.”
Narrating her medical history to Daily Post, Okpako said she got married in 2014 and had her first child, a boy, in 2015. The attempt to have a second child, however, didn’t succeed as the child died.
Doctors later discovered that she had developed complications and suggested that her womb be removed, but she refused. She hasn’t been able to conceive since then until late in 2023, when she became pregnant.
After the first scan, doctors, however, were pessimistic about her carrying the pregnancy to term due to the complications with her womb.
But at Shepherd Hospital Fertility Centre, she was successfully delivered of the four babies.
At the time of filing this report, Mrs Okpako is still in tears over how the children will be discharged from the hospital.
An obstetrician and gynaecologist at the hospital, Dr. Okpara LoveDay told Daily Post, that she was delivered by a team of medical doctors and two nurses to ensure a successful birth of the quadruplets.
He also noted that N50,000 is spent on each of the babies daily.
“She’s not wrong in her calculation, and what she’s asking for—and I hope people come to her aid.
“The babies have not gained the appropriate weight for us to discharge them and she’s still recovering,” he said.
According to the doctor, the mother and babies will be discharged within the next three to four weeks.
“We have high hopes they’re going to make it,” he said of the babies.
At the time of this report, Mr Moses Okpako, the father of the quadruplet, is nowhere to be found and his mobile phone line has not been reachable.