No fewer than 57 fake midwives and 10 illegal maternity centres have been discovered in Port Harcourt by our correspondent.
According to the investigation, more than 95% of these quack midwives practice in their private homes and churches hail from Akwa Ibom State while less than 15% of them hail from Ibo and Bayelsa tribes.
During the investigation our Senior Correspondent also discovered that most of unqualified medical personnel work in pari pasu with some senior Health officers of the BMSH and University Teaching Hospital (UPTH). The investigation also revealed that those whose names and addresses are being identified making frantic effort to senior staff of the Health Ministry to question our correspondent if he has assigned to carry out such investigation.
However, details of their address and names and states are yet to publish as our correspondent receives persistent threat calls day in, day out. The investigation challenged the Health Ministry to embark on a thorough combing exercise in every local government of Rivers State to reduce unlawful baby sales by these illegal operating midwives as midwifery becomes a open business at the expense of the public.
Regrettably, Sanitary Officers from Ministry of Environment in charge of Elelenwo took advantage of the investigation published by this tabloid in our penultimate week and visited their homes and clinics to extort fifteen thousand naira (N15,000) from each of them as an Environmental Fee without making any effort to investigate by means of arresting them rather encouraging to carry on in as much as they continue to pay their environmental fees. This is where the Ministry of Health has a challenge. ###
Alapakabia Tobin
