As the spate of kidnapping and ritual killings increased across the country, the recent accusation levelled against a medical doctor in Onitsha, has again brought to the fore the question of how safe are the hospitals in the delivery of new-born babies in the country.? David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka, reports.
Just as a Lagos-based newspaper, over the weekend, reported how a Muslim cleric, one Alhaji Muktar, had been arrested in Lagos for robbery and trading with babies, reportedly stolen from hospitals, to ritualists and get-rich quick individuals, amongst other nefarious crimes he was involved in, a medical doctor in Enugu State has also been accused of stealing a new-born baby for outright sale.
The doctor, who by training and practice, is being looked upon as an embodiment of compassion, love and care, as his work is to save lives and restore hope to his patients, is now seen as the centre of the mishap that has befallen a helpless woman. Dr. Odili Osai was alleged to have performed a caesarean operation on a pregnant young girl, after which he allegedly sold her baby to child traffickers and forced the hapless woman to leave the hospital in pains and sorrow.
It only dawned on Charity Nwuzor that there are many evil men in this world when she realised that her hope of being a mother had been dashed. Beyond that, she now regards some medical doctors as men without conscience, against the backdrop of her ordeal in the hands of one of them.
Nwuzor, a sales girl, told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY that after she was impregnated by her randy boyfriend, who later abandoned her, her boss, Emmanuel Nwachukwu, a trader in Onitsha, promised to marry her after delivering the baby. She had looked forward with joy to having a baby and a husband whom she would live with for the rest of her life. But her dreams were later to become a fantasy.
After delivering a baby boy through caesarean operation, the doctor allegedly conspired with her boss, Nwachukwu, to sell the baby at the sum of N600,000 to a lady believed to be an immigration officer. And today, after going through this agonising experience, Nwuzor has vowed never to trust any man again in her life.
The beleaguered lady recounted to LEADERSHIP SUNDAY how the medical director of Concord Hospital in Onitsha, Dr. Odili Osai, allegedly sedated her; carried out an illegal cesarean operation on her, removed her seven months old baby, and later sold him at the cost of N600,000 to a lady suspected to be an immigration officer.
Nwuzo, who hails from Ebonyi State, reportedly works as a sales girl for Nwachukwu, a trader in commodities, who is based in Onitsha, the commercial and industrial hub of Anambra State.
She told LEADERSHIP SUNDAY that when she told Nwachukwu that she was pregnant for a run-away boyfriend, her boss, who professes to be a Christian, advised her not to terminate the pregnancy; assuring her that he would marry her after delivering the baby. She was naturally surprised that her boss could offer to marry her, even when he was not responsible for her pregnancy. But that was the beginning of her ordeal.
“He took me to Concord Hospital, where I was told to stay for the doctor to take care of me until delivery. But I never knew it was a ploy for them to steal my baby,” she alleged.
Nwuzor said she stayed in the hospital for some months until one day she overheard the medical director discussing with a lady visitor who wore immigration uniform on the purchase of a baby boy for the sum of N600,000.
“That evening, I was taken in for scanning, after which it was found that I was carrying a baby boy. And later on, Dr. Osai’s wife and Nwachukwu forced me to lie down, after which I was drugged and operated upon… When I woke up, I asked to see my baby, but they threw N100,000 at me, asking me to take it and stop asking questions. That was how my seven months and three weeks pregnancy ended,” she lamented.
Nwuzor said she had told the duo of Dr. Osai and Mr. Nwachukwu that her family would disown her if she did not come back home with a baby, especially as she had told some people in her area how her boyfriend abandoned her after impregnating her, and the prospect of her getting married to her boss, Mr. Nwachukwu.
She said the medical director forced her to leave the hospital after selling her baby without recourse to the fact that she had just undergone a caesarean operation.
Meanwhile, Dr. Osai, his wife, Ijeoma, and five other members of a child-trafficking syndicate including one Mrs. Anesthesia Chigbo, a teacher at the Central Primary School, Umuoji in Idemili Local Government Area, have been arrested by the police for allegedly housing prostitutes, impregnating them for the purpose of rearing babies for sale; organising maternity services for pregnant women and selling newly-delivered babies without the approval of their mothers.
Dr. Osai was also accused of running a maternity home at Amaorji village, Umuoji in Idemili Local Government Area in Anambra State, where he also carried out the illicit business of selling babies.
The arrest of Dr. Osai was made possible following a written petition dated September 17, 2012, and addressed to the Commissioner of Police, Anambra State Police Command by one Barrister Afam Akonanya of Obochie Chambers, Awka, who is the counsel to Miss Charity Nwuzor.
The spokesperson of Anambra State Police Command, DSP Ralph Uzoigwe, who confirmed the arrest of Dr. Osai and some members of the syndicate, however, said that he was yet to receive details of the investigation on the incident.