AP Woman Delivers Twins At 74, Sets New Guinness World Record

Having longed for over five decades to become a mother, a 74-year-old woman finally realised her dream by giving birth to twins in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday. This, doctors feel, could be a new world record.     

The previous record was said to be held by a 66-year-old Spanish woman in 2006, according to the Guinness World Records.     E Mangayamma of Draksharamam in East Godavari district of AP delivered twin baby girls through in-vitro fertilization(IVF) in a private hospital in Guntur.     

Both the mother and the newborn twins are safe andstable, Gynecologist Sanakkayala Aruna, under whose care theCaesarean section was performed, said.   

Married to E Raja Rao in 1962, Mangayamma remained issueless all these years. When one of their neighbours recently conceived anddelivered a baby through artificial insemination, at the ageof 55 years, hopes sprouted in Mangayamma too and she wantedto try IVF.     

She approached Dr Aruna - who previously served as Health Minister in Chandrababu Naidu cabinet between 1999 and 2004 -in Guntur in November last year.   

Mangayamma went through the IVF procedure and conceivedin January this year. Given her age, the woman was kept in the hospital underthe constant care of specialist doctors all these months.   

"She remained healthy as she did not have diabetes orblood pressure. Since she is 74-year-old, we had to performCaesarean section to deliver the babies," Dr Aruna said. The happiness of the new parents and their relatives knewno bounds as there were celebrations in the hospital.