Probe shows doctors, clinics involved in child lifting

LAHORE: Police investigation has revealed that the newborns lifted from hospitals are sold to issueless couples in black market – a business of which doctors and nurses as well as some clinics are part, reported a foreign media house.

Citing an example, the report says 30-year-old Nusrat Orakzai was very happy after she gave birth to a boy, thinking that her family is now complete. He was her second boy having two girls too, but the joy proved to be short-lived.

Nusrat, who lived near Pak-Afghan border, rushed the three-day baby to a hospital in Peshawar due to hepatitis but was stolen within hours after being admitted at the facility.

And Nusrat still cries a year-and-half after the incident but she is not the only woman in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who faced this tragedy, as hundreds of cases have been registered with the police.

It had been as a result of months-long probe that doctors, clinics and several criminals were members of the gang, said Malik Habib who heads a specially-constituted team. “They steal the babies from hospitals and sell to issueless couples.”

According to Habib, a girl, stolen from an Islamabad hospital and shifted to Peshawar, has been traced with the help of a telephone call during two-year long investigation.

During the process, policewomen visited these clinics disguising as ordinary citizens, while intelligence agencies personnel acted as issueless.

Investigation also shows that sometimes the newborns are sold – boy for Rs 700,000 and girl for Rs 300,000 – while the dead are handed over to parents. 

The arrested people have revealed that hundreds of children have been sold, while officials say they decided not take some of these into government custody as they are being brought up in very good families.

They also say that tracing out the parents of the recovered stolen children is very cumbersome as the process would be lengthy even after DNA test because there is no record.

The Health Department too has raided several maternity homes which are involved in this business. The Lady Reading Hospital spokesperson says security has been beefed, with a doctor saying that tags are attached with the wrists and legs of newborns.  On the other hand, an Islamabad-based lawyer says the adoption process is very complicated and the acceptance of your application can take up to 20 years. That’s why people try buying children from black market.