Durban — While people celebrated with various New Year’s Eve parties across Durban, the Scullard family had a party of their own as they welcomed their son – Roman Michael Scullard – during the early hours of Sunday morning at Busamed Hillcrest Private Hospital.
Mother of newborn baby Roman, Bianca Scullard, 30, said: “It was an incredible experience to welcome the new year with this new life – the birth of our son.
“The hospital and doctors at Busamed Hillcrest Private Hospital were so professional and efficient – especially given the holiday and early hours of the morning.
“Roman was the first baby to be born in Hillcrest in 2023, and he’s been a huge blessing to my husband and I.”
Roman was born at 3.49am at Busamed Hillcrest Private Hospital. She mentioned how she initially felt contractions at about midnight and then decided to head to the hospital with her husband at 1am.
“Our plan for this pregnancy was always to get into the new year. However, we didn’t plan to cut it so fine,” said Scullard.
Roman is their second child after their 2-year-old daughter – Lennox Scullard.
According to the KZN Department of Health, a total of 341 New Year babies were welcomed by the provincial government. These are made up of 179 girls and 162 boys.
The eThekwini district still had the highest number at 109, followed by Umgungundlovu 39, King Cetshwayo 36, Zululand 32, Uthukela 27, Umzinyathi 25, Ugu 22, Amajuba 19, Umkhanyakude 18, Ilembe 9 and Harry Gwala 5.
On Sunday, the KZN Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube visited Harry Gwala Regional Hospital in Pietermaritzburg to welcome the newborn babies.
“We are very grateful to the MEC of Health’s continued effort to ensure that labour wards are well structured and well-functioning.
“We thank the nurses’ effort in ensuring that all patients within the ward are given proper care,” said Dube-Ncube.
The premier thanked the committed labour ward nurses and managers who ensured the safe and healthy delivery of the babies. She congratulated the various families as they received their new family additions – and in doing so, started 2023 in a joyous mood.
Dube-Ncube used the opportunity to address the issue of underage pregnancy in South Africa and how the government needs to ensure that this trend ceases.
“Once again, we have to register our concern that the trend of young girls falling pregnant, well below the age of 18, is clearly continuing. Worryingly, the province’s youngest mother is a 15-year-old girl who gave birth to a baby girl at Port Shepstone Hospital. The father of her baby is also 15 years old.
“We are very saddened by the fact that two teenage lives have been ruined. We encourage all young people to abstain from sex or to use condoms,” said Dube-Ncube.
“We call upon law enforcement officers in cases of statutory rape to move swiftly and arrest whoever the offender is. Under-age sexual activity remains unlawful and something we should not condone by any means,” said Dube-Ncube.
While New Year babies were the main agenda, the premier also touched on GBV and sexually transmitted diseases, as most young mothers were victims of these. This resulted because of having sex without protection. She said most of the cases were a result of gender-based violence and practices of unsafe sex.
“We thank the intervention done by the national government of having both the Department of Health and Home Affairs working together in creating ‘satellite offices' that make the process of issuing certificates for newborn babies easy. As the provincial government, we remain committed in ensuring that our hospitals have the best health system,” concluded Premier Dube-Ncube.
The premier wished all healthcare workers and the people of the province a prosperous 2023, full of promise and hope.
The 341 babies recorded in 2023 is higher than the 264 – which consisted of 129 girls and 135 boys – who were recorded on 2022 New Year’s Day.
Daily News