Case of missing birth certificates detailed

Three former health officials associated with a case involving the theft of nearly 5,000 birth certificates in Shangqiu, Henan province, were sentenced to prison for terms ranging from four to eight, the local government announced on Tuesday.

An anti-trafficking advocate who operates surreptitiously under the name Shangguan Zhengyi had raised questions on social media platforms on Monday regarding the handling of the case, which involved Henan Shangqiu Maternal and Child Health Hospital in 2011 and 2012.

The post gained widespread public attention.

A complaint was filed last year against the hospital officials involved, and on Tuesday authorities in Shangqiu confirmed to a China Media Group reporter that the former head of the hospital's health promotion department had been sentenced to eight years in prison by the Liangyuan District People's Court in February.

In the same case, two former deputy heads of the department were each sentenced to four years.

After the first trial, the latter two defendants filed an appeal, and in May the Shangqiu Intermediate People's Court upheld the first trial judgment.

A birth certificate is a medical document printed uniformly by the state that carries a unique number. It is required by public security authorities to establish hukou, or household registration.

The incident was addressed 10 years ago by the hospital, which said that on Jan 30, 2011, when staff arrived in the morning for work, they found the office where the blank birth certificates were stored to be wide open, and certificates were scattered on the floor and desk.

After counting, it was discovered that 2,885 birth certificates were missing. Later, in February 2012, another 2,000 birth certificates came up missing. These had not been accounted for during the initial investigation.

Four years later, in 2016, the anti-trafficking advocate Shangguan posted a claim on social media that birth certificates from various regions were being sold in Fujian province, resulting in children of unknown origin obtaining hukou.

A subsequent investigation determined that birth certificates from several hospitals in different locations actually came from Shangqiu Maternal and Child Health Hospital.

In December last year, Hongxing News reported that the case had been resolved. It said the break-in had been an inside job involving the head of the department and deputy heads responsible for managing the birth certificates and that these individuals had been prosecuted.

Additionally, 13 other people implicated in the case were investigated by Party disciplinary authorities, with two being expelled from the Party and eight being criminally detained for suspected trafficking crimes, according to the report.