A Chinese obstetrician was today found guilty of stealing and selling seven babies born at the hospital where she worked.
Zhang Shuxia received a suspended death sentence which is normally commuted to life imprisonment after two years.
She told parents that their newborn children had congenital problems and persuaded them to give them up, according to the Weinan People’s Court.
The case exposed a baby trafficking ring that operated across several provinces and which centred on Zhang.
Police said they were still investigating 50 related cases, including 26 linked to Zhang and several other suspects. She worked in the maternal and child healthcare hospital in Fuping, Shaanxi province. According to the court, she admitted selling the babies to traffickers who then sold the babies at higher prices to parents desperate for children.
In one case Zhang received £2,180 when she passed a boy to a trafficker, who sold the child for £6,040 to a couple in China’s Henan province.
Altogether, she sold seven babies to middlemen who re-sold the babies between November 2011 and July last year. Six of the babies were either returned or rescued by police, but one girl died.
The court judgment said: “She abducted and sold several new-born infants, violating professional and social ethics.”
The case has added to public frustration with China’s medical profession over rampant bribery and other abuses.
