Deputy Director at the Social Welfare Department Fred Boafo says there is a perception that the department sells babies.

According to him, a woman who had undergone three miscarriages visited his office and offered to buy a baby following public perception that babies could be bought from the department.

The comment comes in the wake of the arrest of some medical professionals for baby harvesting.

Speaking to GHOne TV, Mr Boafo said people who need babies must go through the right processes to adopt them.

“The best thing to do is to apply to adopt a baby. It is sad that people are selling children to desperate mothers. I was in the office one day and a lady came to ask me for a baby because she has had 3 miscarriages and she doesn’t want her husband to find out about the third miscarriage. I drove her away! The perception that you will get a baby to buy at the Social Welfare Department is wrong”

Investigations by the Medical and Dental Council and the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) led to the arrest of some doctors, nurses and social workers in the illegal act of baby harvesting’ and ‘human trafficking’.

A joint statement revealed that the investigations were carried into the illegal activities between the periods of June to November, 2020.

As a result of these investigations, two medical doctors, two social workers, four nurses, two mothers and one traditional birth attendant have been arrested so far and are on bail pending further investigations.

According to the statement, Dr. Hope Mensah Quashie was arrested On Thursday, December 31, 2020. Dr. Mensah Quashie who works with the 37 Military Hospital was arrested at his private health facility named Susan Clinic located at Lartebiokorshie, a suburb of Accra. He allegedly sold the first baby boy to the team for an amount of Thirty Thousand Ghana Cedis (GHC30,000.00) in October, 2020.

He was arrested with three nurses who worked at his facility namely Sylvia Awuseh, John Adorey Effie and Angela Ametepe. They have been identified as his accomplices together with one Dede Gifty Anikpi, a traditional birth attendant at Bethlehem Maternity Home at Santoe a suburb of Kpone Katamanso, who referred the mother of the first baby to Susan Clinic.