BEIJING – Chinese state media say nine people, including an obstetrician, have been detained on suspicion of baby trafficking at a hospital in northwestern China.
The official Xinhua News Agency said late Friday that three government officials and three hospital managers at Fuping County Maternal and Child Health Care in Shaanxi province were fired over the baby trafficking scandal.
It says among the detained suspects is Zhang Shuxia, an obstetrician at the hospital who abducted newborns by sometimes falsely claiming the infants were born with congenital problems.
Xinhua says local police has received 55 reports of child abduction and that Zhang allegedly was involved in 26 of them.
Child trafficking is a serious problem in China, where its strict family planning policy has created a thriving underground market in babies.
