Kochani, 5 October 2023 (MIA) – The residents of Zrnovci near Kochani finally welcomed their town's first newborn in 2023. The healthy baby boy was born to Tanja and Goran Atanasovi at the Kochani Hospital's maternity ward. He is their fifth son, MIA's Kochani correspondent reports.

Zrnovci Mayor Borcho Kocev visited the mother and her newborn on Thursday bearing flowers and gifts and said the municipality would provide the family with considerable help.

"Since theirs is a socially vulnerable family with many children, our local government, together with the Little Pearls child care center, will provide maximum support. The baby, whose name will be Martin, will receive a free five-year stay in the child care center and a voucher worth 50,000 denars for any medications needed from pharmacies," Major Kocev said.

He added that the local government would also start a procedure for allocating a 500 square meter plot for building their new family home.

"The newborn's four brothers, who are students at Sinisha Stoilov Elementary, will receive a financial scholarship," he said.

The newborn, weighing about 3.5 kilograms and 50 centimeters long, was delivered by Ilcho Atanasovski, the only gynecologist currently working at the Kochani Hospital.

"It was a natural delivery and we delivered the baby together with the midwives on duty," Atanasovski said. "The newborn had a good Apgar score. He was examined by a pediatrician and his health is being monitored. The mother and baby will be released from hospital soon."

Hospital management extended their best wishes on the birth of Zrnovci's youngest resident and said they were working on capacity-building at the hospital's gynecology and obstetrics unit.

They said four gynecologists were expected to return from their medical specializations by the middle of 2024. mr/