Five pregnant girls were rescued following a security raid on a baby factory in Umunya, Oyi Local Government Area, Anambra State.
The rescue activities were carried out in cooperation with the Anambra State Ministry of Health and South-Eastern state security agencies.
Briefing journalists on Wednesday, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Afam Obidike said it was observed that the baby factory was functioning as a hospital but it was a base for child trafficking.
He identified the facility as ‘Mother and Child Hospital and Maternity located on a road along the Tansian University, Umunya.
“We found that some hospitals that are not registered are operating in the state. We have created data that will capture the hospitals in the state so that people will be able to have quality, good healthcare,” he said.
“Unfortunately, in one of the hospitals that we came for inspection, we found out that in our data system, they were not registered. We came here to verify and look at what is happening,” he said.
‘Ran Away’
He said the facility was not registered with the Anambra State Government, adding that the government that seven nurses on duty ran away.
The commissioner put the ages of the victims as 14 to 21 years, stressing that Governor Charles Soludo’s administration is determined to tackle the menace.
“Unfortunately, the hospital is not registered and activities are suspected to be very fraudulent. So we decided to just see the senior doctor in the hospital and all the seven nurses.
“They locked us outside. Before they opened the gate, they followed the back and ran away. Seven to eight of them ran away. We saw little girls here that are pregnant, some of them ranging from 14, 15, 16 and 21 years,” the commissioner said.