In what could be the first in the country, a nine-year-old girl is admitted to the United Bulawayo Hospitals (UBH) as she is 33 weeks pregnant and is expected to give birth at the institution.

This comes a few weeks after a 13-year-old girl from Mkhosana Township in Victoria Falls wrote part of her Zimsec Grade Seven examinations on a hospital bed soon after giving birth at Victoria Falls Hospital. In the Victoria Falls case, the girl was not aware that she was pregnant until a month before giving birth.

The UBH case has seen the nine-year-old, who is about one month away from giving birth, being monitored by a team of specialist doctors and nurses owing to the delicate nature of the pregnancy.

Reports have indicated that the nine-year-old is from Tsholotsho Discrict in Matabeleland North Province with officials from the Department of Social Welfare in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare investigating circumstances surrounding the pregnancy. Sources claimed she could have been raped and impregnated by a “close person”, hence the investigations that also involve the police.

A Sunday News crew last week visited UBH and spoke to the acting chief executive officer of the institution, Dr Harrison Rambanapasi, who confirmed the matter, but could not share finer details. He said the girl actually conceived when she was eight years old, which was made possible by a rare condition of precocious puberty (development of sexual maturation earlier than the normal age). Dr Rambanapasi said ordinarily puberty should start at 11 years.

-State Media