FIVE babies born to a Libyan couple studying in the North-East are expected to leave hospital this week.

Expert medical care at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, in Newcastle, saved the lives of five of the six children born to Jamal Abuhelfaia and his wife, Fowzia Adala, in August, following fertility treatment in their own country.

Two consultants, six paediatricians and six specialist nurses helped deliver the babies by Caesarean section.

The smallest, a girl, survived only four days.

The remaining two boys and three girls, then weighing between 12oz and 2lb, have been cared for by hospital staff and are now on the verge of returning to their parents' home on Tyneside.

Len Fenwick, chief executive of Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "We have had to make sure that all five were kept together but they are ready to go now. We are getting them into a state of readiness to go home."

Hospital staff were praised for their skill and expertise in keeping the babies alive and nursing them back to health.

Mr Fenwick said: "The staff are delighted. There is a lot of knocking of the health service in the media, but the health service was able to respond with very little warning and provided quality care and treatment for the babies."

Mr Abuhelfaia, an oil engineer, was due to take up a course at Northumbria University, Newcastle, in September when the children were born.

He was unavailable for comment yesterday. It is understood that he has sold his story to a national Sunday newspaper.

The sextuplets' birth sparked a fierce debate about who would pay estimated £500,000 bill for their care.

It has now been revealed that the Libyan Oil Sector, which employs Mr Abuhelfaia, has made a "significant'' donation to the hospital.