Local Hospital Officials Get Prison Time for Selling Birth Certificates

Senior administrators from at least four hospitals across China have been sentenced to prison terms or placed under criminal control measures after police investigated reports claiming the institutions were selling birth certificates with falsified personal information, which could be used to conceal the true identities of trafficked children.

Three former top department leaders from Shangqiu Maternal and Child Health Hospital in the central province of Henan have been sentenced to between four and eight years behind bars, according to an article published Tuesday on Shangqiu city government’s social media account, citing local court verdicts issued earlier this year.