Police in Hengyang, Hunan province have detained a person surnamed Wu and seven others suspected of forging and trafficking medical birth certificates, China Central Television reported on Saturday.

Initiated by local health and public security authorities, the investigation arose due to public concerns over allegations that doctors at Hengyang Maternal and Child Health Hospital were selling birth certificates.

The investigation found that Wu was dispatched by a biotechnology company to work as an employee at the hospital. The other seven suspects are not employees of medical institutions.

Previous media reports detailed a woman claiming to be an employee of the hospital saying she could help newborns who couldn't obtain birth certificates get them. The entire process of getting a certificate would take around two weeks, and each certificate was reportedly being sold for 100,000 yuan ($14,000).

In China, birth certificates play a crucial role in legal identity, serving as proof of birth, residency registration, eligibility for social benefits, school enrollment and even passport applications. However, this importance has also made them a valuable commodity on the black market, where criminals exploit forged or illegally obtained birth certificates for illicit gains.

The sale of birth certificates has become a profitable underground business, with some certificates reportedly selling for as much as 100,000 yuan.

The motivations behind this trade vary but are primarily driven by financial gain and the opportunity to manipulate legal identity records. In some cases, children who have been kidnapped or trafficked are issued new birth certificates, allowing criminals to seamlessly integrate them into new families or even exploit them for forced labor.

Further investigations are ongoing, according to the CCTV report.

There are also some similar cases in other places in the country.

In 2023, prosecutors in Xiangyang, Hubei province, approved the arrest of six health workers for allegedly fabricating birth certificates for profit, the local government said.

Among those detained was the president of the private Xiangyang Jianqiao Hospital, identified only by her surname, Ye.

The investigation followed an expose on Nov 6, 2023, in which an internet influencer alleged on the microblogging platform Sina Weibo that Ye's hospital had colluded with agencies in different regions to falsify birth certificates and vaccination records.

These documents are required by public security authorities for hukou (household registration) and are necessary for children to attend kindergartens and primary schools.

With more than 280,000 followers on his Sina Weibo account, the whistleblower, known as Shangguan Zhengyi, has long been involved in exposing child trafficking. In a post, he said he uncovered the scheme after going undercover at the hospital for a year. He claimed potential buyers were charged 96,000 yuan ($13,000) for such services.

According to the whistleblower, the illegal business was intended to facilitate the trafficking of babies by helping buyers acquire legal documents. In one case, a baby girl was sold in September 2023 for 118,000 yuan. After obtaining a birth certificate and other documents at the hospital, the buyers were able to register her hukou in Sichuan province, he said.

Xinhua News Agency reported in 2023 that a hospital in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, had been shut down for alleged involvement in similar offenses, Xinhua said.

Li Lei contributed to this story.