Honorata Nakatto is a 44-year-old secondary school teacher from Kayunga district. She has been married for 22 years but had not been blessed with any children.
In 2016, she visited the Women’s Hospital International and Fertility Centre in Bukoto and upon examination, Dr Edward Tamale Sali realised she had blocked tubes.
He recommended In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF). This is a scientific process where ovaries (eggs) are removed from a woman and sperm from a man, and fertilisation is done in the laboratory in a test tube.
“When embryos are formed, they are put back into the woman,” Dr Sali explained.
Nakatto underwent the process in January 2018. Dr Sali removed six eggs from her, but after six weeks, the scan indicated that only one embryo had disappeared.
The five, however, kept growing until over the weekend, she delivered three girls and two boys weighing between 1.3 and 1.7kg at time of birth.
Cry for help
Nakatto has not exactly had the best health. She has previously suffered from breast cancer and lost one of her breasts.
According to doctors, she is currently relying on breast milk donors to help breastfeed her babies.
“The donors are first tested to ensure they don’t have various diseases including HIV, Hepatitis,” Arthur Mastiko, one of the officials at the hospital told Matooke Republic.
Being a low-income earner, Nakatto appeals to people to come in and lend a helping hand especially with medical insurance for the babies.
Nakatto is still at the hospital recovering but both her and the babies are in good health.