By kehinde Emmanuel, Ilorin.
A nurse attendant in a private hospital in the Ilorin metropolis, Kwara state and a Muslim cleric have been arrested by men of the Kwara state Police command over alleged sale of placenta of a new born baby.
According to investigations revealed that the placenta was sold by the nurse attendant, who worked in the private hospital, to the cleric for suspected money ritual purpose at the sum of N20,000.
It was gathered that the medical officer in charge of the private hospital reported the matter to the police, leading to the arrest of the two suspects in different locations in Ilorin on Monday.
The incident, which happened at a private medical hospital, located at Oko-Erin area of the metropolis, started when the father of the new born baby, one Jimoh Abdulfatah, demanded for placenta of his new born baby from the hospital after delivery.
It was also gathered that the father had taken his wife to the private hospital for caecerian operation after unsuccessful efforts of his wife to have a normal delivery at both the Civil Service Clinic and the General Hospital, Ilorin where they had gone for medical attention.
Abdulfatah said that he was referred to the private hospital by a nurse at the General Hospital, Ilorin.
After the successful operation at the private hospital, the father who said that he had passed through stressful moments for two days over his wife’s situation, added that he had forgotten to ask for the placenta on the day his wife was delivered of the baby and had to come back when he remembered to demand for the placenta from the hospital.
However, Abdulfatah said that a senior nurse he met in the hospital had told him that the nurse attendant that was also on duty on the day of the operation to bring the placenta said she could no longer see the placenta where she had put it on the day of the delivery.
It was at this point the medical officer in charge of the hospital informed the police at Surulere and the nurse attendant was subsequently arrested.
Following police interrogation, it was gathered that the nurse attendant confirmed that she gave the placenta to one Muslim cleric in the town while the cleric was subsequently arrested too.
The development however prompted the matter to be transferred to the state police headquarters for further investigation on the issue.
Upon further interrogation of the cleric at the police headquarters, the cleric also confirmed receiving the placenta from the nurse attendant but failed to produce it, saying that he had thrown it into a stream near his house.
The Muslim cleric, whose wife is also pregnant, was said to have told the police that the placenta was useless for the purpose he wanted to use it for, adding that the baby was delivered through operation against normal delivery that could have made the placenta useful.
Speaking on the development, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Ajayi Okasanmi, who confirmed the arrest of the two suspects said that the nurse attendant and the cleric had been helping police in its further investigations on the matter.
He said that the duo would be arraigned in court after completion of police investigations on the issue.
