Anambra Government through Operation Clean and Healthy Anambra, (OCHA Brigade) alongside Ministry of Health Facility, Accreditation and Monitoring Unit and other security agencies has burst a baby factory disguised as a mother and child hospital at number one school road, Tansian University, Umunya in Oyi Local Government Area of the State.
Angel Network News reports that those arrested at the baby factory, Mr. Francis Nwaoye from Umunya, Chidiebele and Samuel Obioma from Ebonyi state pleaded for mercy, and denied involvement in the activities of the factory.
The Managing Director OCHA Brigade, Comrade Celestine Anere while speaking to the press in Umunya immediately after the arrest, charged community leaders, stakeholders and other individuals to partner the Anambra state government to stamp out every form of crime and criminality in the state.
Comrade Anere explained that such partnership will help the state government identify and shutdown clandestine facilities engaging in different forms of illegal activities in the state, help to prosecute their owners and discourage others engaging in such criminal activities.
Anere underscored the roles of community dwellers in helping to end the activities of shady persons in their communities and expressed sadness over the age bracket of children and teenagers rescued from the baby factory.
The OCHA Brigade boss assured that they will be placed at government approved homes for care and protection and warned parents about the consequences of abusing the rights of their children as captured in Child’s Right Law.
He said the menace of child abuse, maltreatment, abandonment, and trafficking have become a cankerworm that worries the state government and vowed that it is ready to tackle and fight it to a standstill as the arrested personnel will be handed over to the appropriate authority for investigation.
Speaking during the visit at the so called hospital, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Afam Obidike described the discovery as shocking and unbelievable, as according to him, the ministry decided to see the doctor in the facility but there was no doctor and all the nurses they saw locked them outside and ran away but the security operatives, comprising Operation Clean and Healthy Anambra OCHA Brigade, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and the Police assisted them in gaining access into the facility.
Dr. Obidike reaffirmed the commitment of Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s led administration in stamping out fake and quack hospitals across the state, adding that after interviewing some under aged girls they met in the facility, they confessed that the self acclaimed medical doctor in charge of the house, one Mr. Odili Ossai from Delta State who is now at large, sells their baby after delivery.
The Commissioner revealed that in the ministry’s hospital data base, it is discovered that the acclaimed hospital is not registered and that is why they came to verify and know what is happening in the facility.
The Anambra health commissioner explained that they met pregnant little girls of 14, 16, 17 and 21 years of age who were being camped in the facility in order to give birth to babies for the fugitive, noting that what they are doing in terms of hospital monitoring is aimed at enhancing the quality of healthcare services in the State.
According to Dr. Obidike, under the Anambra State Health Facility Accreditation and Monitoring Unit and with the approval of Governor Soludo, they have equally established the State Illegal and Anti-Quackery Taskforce Team which is also in line with the directive of the Governor who is determined to eliminate all illegal health facilities and quackery in the State.
Dr. Obidike said that the state wants to promote transparency and encourage public participation and has brought out dedicated mobile hotline for Ndi Anambra to report any observed illegal activities, malpractices or concerns related to healthcare services.
The numbers are as follows, 08057655442, 09135169905 and 07013197263.
The Commissioner cautioned other fake and quack operating hospitals in the state to shut down immediately as the law will eventually catch up with them.
The State Director of Medical Services, Dr. Ugochukwu Chukwulobelu and Pharm. Paul Enwere accompanied the commissioner to the inspection.
