Mrs Moudou Touray from Kuwonku Village in the Upper River Region gave birth to triplets on May 1 at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital (RVTH). Alfusainey, Alasana and Yahya Touray (triplets) have been hospitalised at the premature unit of the RVTH and their conditions were said to be stable.

Speaking in an interview with the Daily Observer, the mother of the triplets thanked Allah for the successful delivery of the triplets. Mrs Touray also thanked the staff of RVTH and appealed for public support to take good care of the babies.

Dr Tamsir Mbowe, the director general of the Presidential Medical Programme, who is also the director of Medical and Health Services, has this to say: "From the medical point of view, triplets are common in West Africa than in any other region in the world.

The reason for this is attributable to genetical factors, ethnic and geographical nature of West Africa. Forty per cent of twins and multiple pregnancies comes from the West African region. Although twins and multiple pregnancies are always a good news to families, they are a great concern to medical practitioners, because such pregnancies are always associated with complications, either to the mother or to the babies".

Dr Mbowe, himself a gynaecologist, said twins can be "fraternal (non identical) or identical", adding that these "triplets are identical, meaning they came from the same egg".

"If a fertilised egg during the stage of cell division separates, then the triplets will come from the same egg and will be identical. But if they are coming from different fertilised eggs, they will not have the same sex (non-identical)", he said.

Dr Mbowe finally appealed to the general public to support the triplets and their mother, while advising pregnant women to report to the clinics for regular antenatal check-up so that doctors and nurses will know whether they need special care, if they are carrying twins.

Sister Ndey Ceesay, a departmental matron at the RVTH, also advised pregnant women reach out to skilled practitioners in order to m reduce maternal and neo-natal mortality and morbidity.