Shaanxi Province Trafficking Ring Smashed UPDATED
“A doctor is under investigation for infant trafficking in Fuping county, Northwest China’s Shaanxi province, Chinese Business View reported.
The doctor surnamed Zhang is suspected of trading new born babies at a maternal and child health care hospital in Fuping county after a baby boy went missing on July 18.
It is said that Zhang asked the parents to “give up the boy” with a fake test report showing the mother had syphilis and hepatitis, which would infect the baby and “bring huge economic pressure” to the family.
The baby’s father, surnamed Lai, who has just graduated from primary school, said he believed the doctor and signed his name on the delivery record as he was too nervous and confused. The record said the baby had deformity, which was not mentioned by doctor Zhang earlier. The baby was reportedly removed before the mother could see him.
“Zhang said the baby had infectious disease and I shouldn’t get close to him,” the father said. “I only looked at him through the delivery room and kept taking care of my wife. After that she said the baby had been disposed and we never see him.”
The mother of the baby, surnamed Dong, was proved to have no virus after a check at another hospital. And Zhang has not been seen since.
The family has been questioning the hospital and reported to the police. As of August 1, seven similar cases have been reported at the hospital involving Zhang.
Police in Fuping have confirmed the case as a group trans-provincial child trafficking. Three people have been arrested and doctor Zhang is under investigation.”
Doctor probed for baby trafficking scandal
[ECNS 8/2/13]
One Baby Found and Returned
“A baby boy allegedly sold by the doctor who delivered him in China has been reunited with his parents, state media reported on Tuesday, in a case highlighting the problem of child trafficking.
Zhang Suxia, the doctor responsible for the birth in north-western China’s Shaanxi province, allegedly persuaded the parents to give up their child last month after informing them he had serious congenital diseases, the China Daily newspaper reported.
Zhang and two other suspects were detained, the report said, and police discovered the baby at the house of a farmer in the central province of Henan, where three more suspects were held.
The baby was reunited with his mother Dong Shanshan and father Lai Guofeng on Monday in Fuping, Shaanxi, the report said.
“Dong held him tightly as family members wept before the parents knelt to thank police for recovering the infant,” the China Daily said.
Citing a police official in Henan, the paper reported that a farmer with three daughters bought the baby boy from the alleged traffickers for 60 000 yuan ($9 800).
Seven other families in Shaanxi have told police their newborns were taken away after Zhang told them their infants were sick and they would face heavy financial burdens as a result, it added.
Trafficking of children is a serious problem in China, blamed in part on the “one-child” policy which has put a premium on baby boys, with girls sometimes sold off, abandoned or put up for adoption.
Under the policy, aimed at controlling China’s vast population of more than 1.3 billion, people who live in urban areas are generally allowed one child, while rural families can have two if the first is a girl.
In a much publicised case, Chinese police rescued 89 children and arrested 355 suspects in December after breaking up a series of child trafficking rings.”
Doctor ‘persuaded couple to give up son’
[IOL News 8/6/13]
“Dong Wan, 31, wept as she held the boy at a hospital in Fuping, following the arrest of obstetrician Zhang Lin for allegedly trying to sell him to human traffickers.
The doctor apparently told Ms Dong, 31, that her son was born with severe health problems and would soon die.
She is accused of persuading the mother to sign the baby over to the hospital before selling the boy to traffickers for £3,000 ($4,600).
Police in Shaanxi province say the doctor has now been arrested and fear the sale may be the tip of the iceberg.
Officers are investigating at least seven similar cases in the region.
The healthy baby boy was tracked down by investigators after Dong became suspicious.
The mother said: ‘I was told the baby would not survive and the best thing for me would be to let the hospital take care of it so I did.’
After signing the documents at The Fuping County Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital
The baby was tracked down hundreds of miles away in neighbouring Henan province where the original traffickers had sold him on for a profit.
Police investigators say Zhang and two suspected accomplices are under arrest.
Local deputy director Chen Jainfeng said: ‘The suspects told us where the baby was and with the help of local police we found the child.
‘The baby is undergoing medical tests and is on his way home.'”
[Daily Mail 8/5/13 by Amy Evans]
“At least seven families have come forward to report their children missing after police in Shaanxi smashed a sophisticated child-smuggling operation involving an obstetrician last week, Chinese media reports.
Fan Ningning, a female villager who lived in Weinan city’s Fuping County, said that in recent years she had twice given birth at a local maternal hospital, the Beijing News reported. Fan said she had been told by a doctor to “discard” her babies because they had “congenital diseases”. She now believes her children are still alive and living with a “host family”.
Fan’s hopes of seeing her children again were sparked by the high-profile police operation which uncovered the human trafficking operation. Newspapers in China on Monday reported that Fuping police rescued a newborn boy from its host family in nearby Henan province. The infant had allegedly been abducted by an obstetrician and sold to human traffickers.
Police have also arrested Zhang Shuxia, an obstetrician working at a hospital for children. She had allegedly persuaded a couple to give up their child last month, after informing them he was infected with hepatitis and syphilis, police said. Worried the “sick baby” could be a heavy financial burden, the parents allowed Zhang to “dispose” of it.
State media reported on Tuesday that the baby boy had been reunited with his parents, mother Dong Shanshan and father Lai Guofeng. “Dong held him tightly as family members wept before the parents knelt to thank police for recovering the infant,” the China Daily said.
Police also detained two other people accused of re-selling babies, the newspaper reported citing police sources. The doctor sold the baby for around 21,000 yuan to a member of the child smuggling ring. This man then sold the child for 50,000 yuan to another criminal suspect, who handed it to the host family for 60,000 yuan, the report explained.
Yet there are other cases reported. A spokesman for Fuping police told the paper that they had received seven similar reports from other families. More reports are likely.
Elaborating on the case of Fan Ningning, the Beijing News reported that she had given birth to a girl and a boy in 2008 and 2009. When a doctor told her the children had congenital diseases, no physical examination was performed on them, nor was Fan asked to sign a letter of consent allowing them to be taken away from her.
Child trafficking is a serious problem in China. It is often blamed on the “one-child” policy which has put a premium on families having baby boys. Consequently, baby girls are sometimes sold off, abandoned, or put up for adoption.
Under the policy, which aims at controlling China’s more than 1.3 billion population, people in urban areas are generally allowed only one child, while rural families can have two – if the first is a girl.”
More parents report missing children after baby-smuggling ring smashed in China
[South China Morning Post 8/6/13 by Chris Luo]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Update: More victims come forward and five health officials are fired from health bureau.
“A suspected baby trafficking case in Fuping county, Shaanxi province, continues to develop as more couples claim they were duped into giving up their newborn babies.
The county police confirmed on Wednesday that the parents of 10 children delivered at Fuping Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital have reported their babies were also taken away by Zhang Suxia, deputy director of the hospital’s maternity department.
Wang Yanyan, a farmer in Fuping, said she gave birth twins on May 31 and was told by the doctor the babies suffered from “congenital diseases” and would not live past three years.
“She told us to give up the babies and never let us look at them,” Wang said.
However, Wang said she had several prenatal checkups during her pregnancy and the results showed she and her fetuses were normal.
Dong Pengfei, a local farmer in the county’s Xuezhen township, reported to police that his wife gave birth to a baby boy in the hospital in 2006 and the doctor said the newborn had congenital defects and persuaded the parents to give him up.
The doctor took the baby away without allowing the couple to see him.
Yang Jianlong, chief officer of the county criminal case department, said, “Because the cases reported to police mostly happened some time ago, the investigation will take some time.”
Zhang, the 56-year-old doctor, is suspected of having persuaded couples to give up their babies over the past eight years.
She was exposed only recently when a couple became suspicious and reported her to the police.
On Monday, police located the couple’s baby boy and returned him to his parents.
Lai Guofeng, the baby’s father, said he is now concerned about his son’s health and he has yet to decide whether to sue the hospital.
On the night of July 16, Lai’s wife, Dong Shanshan, gave birth to a baby boy at the hospital. Zhang told them the child suffered from syphilis and hepatitis B transmitted from the mother and would not survive.
Zhang did not let the couple see their baby but said he had already been taken away.
Lai questioned the doctor’s diagnosis and took his wife to another county hospital for syphilis and hepatitis B tests the following day. Two days later, the test results showed his wife was free of both diseases.
On July 20, Lai contacted police who investigated and found the baby in Henan province 20 days after he was born.
Zhang was detained by police and confessed she had sold the baby for 21,600 yuan ($3,500) to two people from Shanxi province in the early morning of July 17.
Police obtained surveillance video that showed Zhang took a baby out of the hospital.
Six suspects in the case have been detained.
The National Health and Family Planning Commission on Tuesday urged the Shaanxi Health Department to dismiss those responsible and improve the management of its medical system.
Mao Qun’an, spokesman for the state health authority, said leaders of the National Health and Family Planning Commission were closely following the case.
The Shaanxi health authority issued an emergency notice of safety inspections of the province’s health system to improve its management.
Sun Zhenlin, deputy director of the health department, said the three top leaders of the Fuping hospital had been dismissed and Zhang’s license had been revoked.
Guan Fangtian, who has worked as a midwife for 30 years in a hospital in Xi’an, capital of the province, said there were rules on how doctors and nurses dealt with newborn babies, even if the baby had medical issues or died.
“My hospital has strict regulations for the processing of dead babies, and babies with defects would also be sent to their parents without any private processing by the doctors and nurses,” Guan said.
Yang said police had no information so far indicating that other doctors or nurses helped Zhang and there was no evidence her family members knew either.
“We are paying full attention to the reports of people who said their babies were also taken by Zhang, and we are continuing our investigation,” Yang said.”
More accuse doctor of baby trafficking
[China Daily 8/8/13 by Ma Lie]
“Five health officials in Northwest China’s Shaanxi province have been removed from their posts over the baby-for-sale scandle, West China City Daily reported Thursday.
The director and deputy director of the health bureau in Fuping county, where the baby trafficking cases were reported were removed.
The chief and deputy chief officer of the Fuping County Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, whose doctors were allegedly involved in trafficking newborn babies were also removed, as well as the chairman of the labor union in charge of nursing at the hospital.
The hospital’s involvement in trafficking newborns was exposed recently when a couple became suspicious and reported one of its gynecologist called Zhang Shuxia to the police on July 20.
The couple alleged that Zhang, deputy director of the hospital’s maternity department, took their newborn baby boy away after she claimed the kid suffered from syphilis and hepatitis B transmitted from the mother and would not survive.
The couple was suspicious as the mother was free of both diseases, and several prenatal checkups during her pregnancy showed she and her fetuses were normal.
Zhang, deputy director of the hospital’s maternity department, has been detained on suspicion of human trafficking.
The hospital’s involvement in children trafficking is still being investigated as the county police confirmed on Wednesday that the parents of 10 children delivered at Fuping Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital have reported their babies were also taken away by Zhang.
Lou Qinjian, provincial governor of Shaanxi, pledged on Thursday a thorough investigation and a strong will to bring those to justice.
Two newborn twin baby girls and a baby boy alleged sold by Zhang to human traffickers have been rescued.”
Health chiefs sacked over baby-for-sale scandal
[China Daily 8/9/13]
“Twin newborn girls allegedly stolen by a maternity doctor in a baby trafficking scandal in northwest China were returned to their parents over the weekend.
Surrounded by reporters and photographers, police handed the two infants back to their parents at Fuping County Hospital in Shaanxi province late on Saturday. The twins’ father, Qi Kunfeng, presented a banner to thank police for recovering the babies, while their mother, Wang Yanyan, wept.
“They’re all healthy and well. I just hope we can live happily together as a family ever after,” Qi told CNN by telephone on Monday.
“It’s a big surprise for my wife. She can’t eat and sleep well because of over excitement.”
The twins were allegedly separated and sold to two families by a doctor named Zhang Shuxia, the deputy director of the maternity department in the Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital in Fuping County.
Zhang had told the parents that the twins had serious health issues and persuaded them to give them up after their birth on May 29.
“The doctor was pretending to be very anxious, telling me that my babies have congenital problems. She said the twins would be brain damaged or paralyzed,” said the mother.
She never saw her children after the birth: “I insisted on seeing the babies, but she wouldn’t let me,” said Wang.
The new parents trusted Zhang: “I never suspected that she was selling my babies, because she was a family friend,” she said.
The twins’ father told CNN that the loss of the children had a profound impact on the couple.
“Every night for two months my wife would cry, and she couldn’t eat from worry.”
Of Zhang, his former friend, he said: “I think she is evil. She is a terrible person.”
“We trusted her so much. How could she be so cruel to sell our babies?”
Since news of the scandal broke last week, police have received reports of 55 similar cases from local residents, including 26 cases pointing to Zhang, the China Daily reported.
Zhang has been detained along with eight other suspects on suspicion of trafficking.
Three babies have been rescued, including the twins. A baby boy was reunited with his parents last week after allegedly being sold by the same obstetrician to traffickers.”
Twin babies ‘sold’ by Chinese trafficking ring reunited with parents
[12News Now 8/12/13 by David McKenzie and Zhang Dayu]
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