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Baby born with two heads dies at Namayingo Health Centre
What you need to know:
- Sarah Awino, 19, arrived at the health centre around 11 am on Monday, complaining of backache and lower abdominal pain, according to Jane Okanya, the midwife who attended to her.
A first-time mother has lost her baby, who was delivered with two heads at Hukeseho Health Centre III in Buyinja Sub-county, Namayingo District. This tragic incident highlights the urgent need for increased government support for health facilities across the country.
Ms Sarah Awino, 19, arrived at the health centre around 11 am on Monday, complaining of backache and lower abdominal pain, according to Ms Jane Okanya, the midwife who attended to her.
“When I examined her, she was in mild labor pain. I carried out laboratory tests, including for malaria, which turned positive. I began managing the malaria, and on Tuesday, she developed labour pains,” Ms Okanya explained on Friday.
She added: “At around 3 pm on Tuesday, she experienced active labour pains, which I continued to monitor until 11 p.m. when she delivered a baby girl weighing 2.5 kg. However, when the head emerged, I encouraged her to push, and a second head that was stuck was maneuvered out.”
Unfortunately, Ms Okanya reported that the baby died within five to ten minutes after birth.
“The second head was not well-formed and was open. I tried to resuscitate the baby, but she was losing most of her oxygen to the second head. The baby was premature; the mother was expected to deliver in September but gave birth at eight months,” she said.
Ms Okanya noted that Awino had been attending antenatal care but had missed a crucial scan on July 30 due to financial constraints. “We advised her to go for a scan, but when I asked for the results, she said she didn’t have the money to go,” she added.
She emphasised the need for more government support to provide essential services like ultrasounds, which can help detect abnormalities early and allow healthcare providers to advise expectant mothers accordingly.
Mr Fred Wandera, the area councilor for Lwangosia Parish in Buyinja Sub-county, said he received a call to rush to the health centre, where he encountered the extraordinary situation of a baby born with two heads. “It is something I had only heard about but never seen,” he said.
Ms Awino’s delivery stunned the community, drawing many locals to the health centre, although most were denied access by the nurses, particularly from taking photos.
While Awino remains inconsolable, her husband, Mr Ogello Wabwire, 24, a boda boda rider, expressed his shock at the birth. The baby has since been buried.
Dr Tenywa Emmanuel, a pediatrician at Nalufenya Hospital in Jinja City, says such births are rare; however, there is need to take history right from antenatal.
“How was antenatal like, did the mother take drugs which affected formation of the baby, for example anti-convulsants, alcohol, cigarettes? I need to sit with the mother and take a detailed history. It can be spontaneous without linking it to any particular cause, which is the commonest; or genetic abnormalities,” he said.
Previous cases have been referred to by medical practitioners as dicephalic parapagus, a rare form of partial twinning in which two heads are situated side-by-side on one torso. Infants conjoined in this manner are sometimes called “two-headed babies” in popular media.
