Wuhan cash for medical certificates investigation underway

The Wuhan health authority suspended a hospital and a judicial appraisal institute from conducting certain services on Tuesday, in the wake of them being accused online of involvement in illegal activities such as faking paternity results.

Wuhan Puren Hospital has been suspended from releasing birth certificates, and Wuhan Ruiboxiang Judicial Appraisal Institute has been suspended from providing judicial appraisal services, according to a statement released by the Wuhan Health Commission on Tuesday.

A joint special task force including professionals from health, public security and judicial organs has been set up to probe the alleged activities and to conduct investigations into the accused hospital and institute, the statement said.

Based on the investigation results, the health commission will hold the hospital and institute accountable in accordance with laws and regulations.

The two medical organs were accused of illegal activities on Friday by an influencer who recently aroused public attention on child trafficking.

On Nov 24, Shangguan Zhengyi, a Sina Weibo user with 300,000 followers, alleged that some intermediary organizations are working with Wuhan Puren Hospital for surrogacy. He also said that the Wuhan Ruiboxiang Judicial Appraisal Institute could provide counterfeit paternity test results for "adopted" children, then the parents could provide the fake results to medical organs to reissue the birth certificate, giving the nonbiological children a fake identification. The entire service costs around 180,000 yuan ($25,200) in cash, it's alleged.

"I have noticed similar practices of using fake paternity test results to give legal identification for abducted children in other places since 2020," he said on his Weibo account, asking authorities to stop such illegal practices and stop child trafficking.

He gained wide public attention after he reported on his Weibo account about many hospitals' illegal conduct regarding birth certificates.

In early November, he accused Xiangyang Jianqiao Hospital, a private hospital in Xiangyang of Hubei province, of colluding with agencies to give fake birth certificates and infant vaccination records, which could be verified and accepted since they were uploaded via official channels.