The Susan Clinic, which belongs to one of the doctors alleged to have engaged in a baby-selling syndicate, has been shut down by the HeFRA, under the MOH, in collaboration with the Ghana Police Service.

The Lartebiorkorshie-based clinic owned by Dr. Hope Quarshie, was closed down for also operating without a license, which residents say has been in operation since December 31, 2020, citinewsroom.com reports.

Dr. Philip Bannor, who is the Registrar of the Health Facilities Regulatory Authority (HeFRA), said the shut down follows several attempts they made to get the facility to be properly registered.

“The last time we came here was within the last six months. We did an operation, and we found out there was no license. We have given them opportunities to comply and that has not happened that is why we have taken this measure against them,” he said to a cross-section of the media.

He further stated that their non-compliance, particularly within the era of a pandemic, poses great dangers.

The Covid-19 outbreak has left many newborn babies of illegal surrogate mothers stranded in Thailand because of international travel bans.

"Many babies from commercial surrogate mothers could not be given to the clients due to the Covid-19 travel ban in many countries," Dr Akom Praditsuwan, the Department of Health Service Support (HSSD), said yesterday.

The government on Friday reported 586 new Covid-19 cases, 573 local infections and 13 imported, raising the total to 22,644.

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Dr Akom said the babies were now being cared for by officials from the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security as police and other agencies tried to track down all those complicit in the illegal business to charge them with human trafficking.

A family who lost their daughter years ago was finally reunited with her, but what happened is something that the family would have never imagined. As per a report published in a leading English daily, the family was finally reunited with their daughter, but over the years, something had changed.

The Incident

Sakina and her husband live with their three children in the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh. Years ago, the family had gone on a pilgrimage trip. After visiting Ajmer Sharif, the family of 5 went to Mecca Masjid. The girl accompanied her father to get water, when the unfortunate incident happened.

Sakina and her husband lost their daughter 15 years ago during their visit to Mecca masjid in Hyderabad. When the daughter, Fatima was just two-and-half-years old, Sakina lost her baby girl in the Masjid. The family tried a lot to search for the girl.

The Search and Struggle

The very dire socio-economic situation in the country was inadvertently dramatised by 22-year-old Seun Oladayo in Ondo State who had planned to ‘dispose’ of her baby after delivery because she would not be able to take care of the baby. She claimed that the father of the baby absconded the moment she got pregnant.

It is a sign of good fortune for the innocent baby that one Pastor Olawale was approached by the uncle, one Yinka, to pay a paltry N10,000 for the baby. In a rare display of piety, the pastor reported the evil plot to the Amotekun Corps in Ondo town. We commend the display of kindness and vigilance by the pastor who even noticed that the birth of the baby might have been induced and there was evidence that the mother deliberately wanted to kill the child by strangling her with the umbilical cord.

The pastor’s exceptional behaviour must be commended in an era when some pastors are being upbraided for far too many crimes, including ritual killing of children. His is a huge elixir for Christendom in such trying times. His behaviour is so Christ-like and must be an example of the expected behaviour from all Christians.

On the part of the lady, we regret that her motherly instincts did not pop up to shield her baby from the trauma of induction and a deliberate attempt to strangle her with the umbilical cord. Even though we blame the father of the baby for absconding on confirmation of pregnancy, a very reprehensible and irresponsible attitude, we still feel that the state must search him out and make sure he faces justice.

Again, the attempt to sell her baby or even wish the baby death by the mother speaks to her hurt and state of mind. Even selling the baby for a paltry N10,000 speaks to the level of poverty afflicting the girl and her family. To sell her own child for less than $30 speaks to the mental and material poverty of the mother and her brother. It is a pointer to the impact of the fact that Nigeria is presently the poverty capital of the world. Make no mistakes about it, an attempt to sell the baby for a trillion dollars does not negate the odious and tragic transaction in any way.

YAOUNDE - Cameroon police said Saturday they have opened investigations into a network of traffickers who allegedly buy babies from the central African state to sell in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some members of the network, believed to have illegally sold scores of children, were arrested Saturday in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé, with babies they had bought and a mother who said she wanted to sell her unborn child because she is poor. The mother was also arrested.

Baudouin Gweha, senior official of the Gendarmerie post at Mimboman, a Yaoundé neighborhood, says he arrested 41-year-old Pierre Essola for carrying out an activity that violates human dignity.

Essola tells Cameroon police that all negotiations with potential buyers and sellers of babies are by telephone.

He says he found a Congolese woman on social media who was offering to help teenage and single mothers to take care of their newborn babies. He says he immediately contacted the Congolese women through WhatsApp and told her that many young girls with unwanted pregnancies in Cameroon need help. He says he recorded and sent videos of poor teenage mothers to the woman in Congo. He says while in Cameroon, the woman disclosed to him that she had another partner who helps her to buy babies from the coastal Cameroonian city of Douala.

Essolla said his intention is to help poor mothers, especially teenagers who abandon their babies on the streets because there is no one to help take care of the babies.

Globally, an estimated 580 (approximately 5-8% of couples) million people experience infertility, with more than half, 372 million in lower and middle-income countries (WHO, 2004). Africa has the largest burden of 10-32% of infertile couples (Okonofua, 2005).

On 20th January 2021, the Ghana Medical Council (MDC) and the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) issued a joint statement about the involvement of some medical practitioners, social welfare officers and individuals in what appears to be a complicated syndicate involving baby harvesting and baby selling using trusted government facilities and departments like hospitals and the department of social welfare as a conduit. The disturbing news flooded the nation’s traditional and new media as Ghanaian expressed their shock.

The MDC and EOCO needs to be commended for the painstaking and detailed undercover work from June to November 2020, which led to the subsequent arrest of some the culprits. It is our hope that, those found culpable will be made to face the full rigors of the law and not left off the hook as happens with some criminal cases so as to end the culture of impunity and to serve as a deterrent to others who may want to engage is such albeit “lucrative” illegality and inhumane acts.

While recognizing the great sacrifices and contributions of health and social workers to promote “the best interest of the child”in line with Ghana’s Children Act and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, there is an urgent need to address the emerging worrying trend of baby selling, baby stealing and missing babies which has the likelihood of entrenching the practice of baby harvesting.

To nip this emerging canker in the bud, RISE-Ghana wishes to highlight the following concerns to improve policy and practice:

Police operatives in Anambra State have arrested 10 people in connection with a child trafficking ring operating a baby factory within the Idemili South LGA.

On Tuesday, following an intelligence report, police operatives attached to the SIB and Area Command, Oraifite, coordinated by the Area Commander, ACP Afolabi Wilfred, raided the house of one Melvina Uju Uba, ‘f’, located opposite Nnamdi Azikiwe Orthopedic Teaching Hospital in Oba.

The suspects arrested include “Edna Nnadi, ‘f’, aged 37 years, Ujunwa Nweke, ‘f’, aged 25years, Izuchukwu Uba, ‘f’, aged 24 years, Chinaza Ibeh, ‘f’, aged 19years, Peace Okon Effiong, ‘f’, aged 25years, Gift Collins, ‘f’, aged 20years, Chimkaso Kingsley, ‘f’, aged 25years, Happiness Monday, ‘f’, aged 18years, Chioma Okonkwo, ‘f’, aged 25years and, Uchechukwu Nwankwo, ‘f’, aged 18years.”

The place was raided following credible information that teenage girls were being impregnated and the babies sold out by human traffickers.

During the operation, five newly born babies and three other children were rescued.

SERA ROMANIA Foundation , as a partner in the project: REDUCING RISK FOR institutionalization of children through innovative Bucharest region - COD SMIS 2014+: 129 446 , recruiting expert implementation (P) partner (occupation code - 242 104 responsible process) for the activities corresponding to the partner in the aforementioned project.

General attributions:

Ensures the technical implementation of sub-activity A 3.2 - Implementation of measures that support the deinstitutionalization and provision of services at the community level by providing financial support to prevent the separation of the child from his family / institutionalization

Specific conditions for filling the available position:

Participates in the elaboration of the procedure for granting subsidies for the prevention of the separation of the child from his / her family, within A 3.2 .;

Minister Sander Dekker voor Rechtsbescherming (VVD) afgelopen zomer tijdens het Tweede Kamerdebat over fouten bij het onderzoek naar afstand en adoptie in Nederland.

Minister Sander Dekker voor Rechtsbescherming (VVD) afgelopen zomer tijdens het Tweede Kamerdebat over fouten bij het onderzoek naar afstand en adoptie in Nederland. © ANP

Kabinet zet nieuwe adopties in pauzestand, maar wil geen verbod

Het kabinet volgt de suggestie van de commissie-Joustra om adopties vanuit het buitenland stop te zetten. Maar het wil niet zo ver gaan dat interlandelijke adopties verboden worden. Maandag wordt het besluit bekend, melden Haagse bronnen.

Jan Hoedeman 05-02-21, 19:04

SERA ROMANIA Foundation , as a partner in the project: REDUCING RISK FOR institutionalization of children through innovative Bucharest region - COD SMIS 2014+: 129 446 , recruiting expert implementation (P) partner (occupation code - 242 104 responsible process) for the activities corresponding to the partner in the aforementioned project.

General attributions:

Ensures the technical implementation of sub-activity A 3.2 - Implementation of measures that support the deinstitutionalization and provision of services at the community level by providing financial support to prevent the separation of the child from his family / institutionalization

Specific conditions for filling the available position:

Participates in the elaboration of the procedure for granting subsidies for the prevention of the separation of the child from his / her family, within A 3.2 .;