The police in Okundi division of Boki LGA in Cross River state have arrested two nurses in the area for allegedly stealing and selling a newly born baby.
The suspects are Helen Bankong who is the Community Health Officer in charge of the primary health facility in Katchuan Irruan, Boki Local government and her colleague, Theresa Odu.
The theft was said to have occurred at the Katchuan Irruan health facility.
The Director General of the state Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Betta Edu, who confirmed the incident, said the duo delivered a baby girl at the primary health centre in Katchuan Irruan and took the baby to Idum Mbube, without the consent of the baby’s mother whose name was not immediately available.
According to sources, the nurses were reported to have drugged the young mother of the child in the labour ward.
The nurses allegedly stole the baby and lied to the mother when she regained consciousness that the baby had died.
According to Mrs Florence Kekong who is a native of the community and relation to the child’s mother, she said the nurses ran out of luck when they, the family members insisted on seeing the dead baby or where she was buried.
The baby was later recovered at Idum Mbube in Ogoja LGA from a woman who bought her from the nurses.
The two nurses and their client who bought the baby are now in police custody.
The DG of the Primary Health Agency has vowed that they will be dealt with according to the law.
“I am monitoring the situation to ensure that even if anyone tries to solicit on their behalf or go to the Police to help them escape justice, that person will go in for it. We cannot tolerate these kinds of acts in the Agency and characters like these should be locked up in jail,” she said.
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