BY THE ARUSHA NEWS REPORTER
For her first pregnancy, young Careen Remi carried not just one heartbeat in her womb but five, which is rare and delicate, yet she followed medical advice and held onto the singular hope that she and her husband, Robert Frank, would return home with a unique bundle of joy.
But alas, that anticipation ended in sorrow at Mount Meru Regional Referral Hospital recently where the couple lost their quintuplets within hours of premature delivery of two boys and three girls at just about 26 weeks of pregnancy, more than three months before full term.
“I cried so much, but I believe God will bless me with other children again,” Ms Remi told journalists after the family tragedy. Four were born alive and admitted to specialised perinatal care, while the fifth was stillborn. Despite efforts to save them, the four babies died shortly after.
Her husband said the couple had accepted what happened as the Will of God and blamed no one for their loss. Average gestational age for quintuplet delivery is 28 to 29 weeks, but babies born before 26 weeks have high mortality risks of up to 50 per cent or lower chance of survival depending on quick access to specialised perinatal care and other medical interventions.
On June 13, 2026 all quintuplets survived in a successful delivery by Victoria Mkwizu of Tabata at the Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) in Dar es Salaam following weeks of specialised treatment in the neonatal intensive care unit, with CRDB Bank and other financial institutions, stepping in to help the family financially and other long-term welfare support.
