KARACHI, Oct 4: A woman gave birth to quintuplets, three boys and two girls, in a private hospital in the city’s Kharadar area on Wednesday.

Hospital sources said the woman, Parveen Abbas, and three of the babies were doing well but two others were in critical condition. Doctors will need 24 hours to say something with certainty about chances of survival of all the babies. The woman hails from Sahiwal and her husband works in a house.

The babies were delivered prematurely but, according to doctors, are physically complete. Their weight ranges from 1.2kg to 1.6kg.

Dr Atiya Aamir of the Kharadar General Hospital, who handled the case, told Dawn that doctors were trying hard to ensure that the babies survived and were providing all possible medical aid to the two girls who were not in good shape.

The mother, she said, had lost a lot of blood during surgery and needed adequate blood transfusion for a couple of days.

Dr Atiya said the delivery of the quintuplets was the first case for her hospital. “It was an interesting but challenging case and I and my team of doctors are happy that we successfully managed it,” she added.

Parveen, who had lost her first child, was anxious about the health of the newly born.

As soon as she regained consciousness after surgery and was told that she had five babies, she asked if all of them were alive.