Council of Europe and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported Tuesday, December 12.
The BBC said that "disturbing video footage" of post-mortem examinations on dismembered tiny bodies "raises serious questions" about what happened to them. Critics said Ukraine has become the self-styled stem cell capital of the world.
There was no immediate reaction from the Ukrainian government, BosNewsLife’s Senior International Correspondent Agnes R. Bos said.
She said Ukrainian authorities were currently involved in a power struggle and that the baby scandal was viewed as a "mere distraction."
Analysts say there is a worldwide trade in stem cells from aborted fetuses, amid unproven claims they can help fight many diseases. However claims that stem cells are also being harvested from live babies have added to concerns.
CONCERNED MOTHERS
Mothers from the city of Kharkiv said they gave birth to healthy babies, only to have them taken by maternity staff. In 2003 local authorities reportedly agreed to exhume around 30 bodies of fetuses and full-term babies from a cemetery used by maternity hospital number six.
Video footage showed organs, including brains, have been stripped – and some bodies dismembered. In its report, the Council of Europe said there was "a general culture of trafficking of children snatched at birth, and a wall of silence from hospital staff upwards over their fate."
The BBC quoted a senior British forensic pathologist as saying he is very concerned to see bodies in pieces – as that is not standard post-mortem practice. He said it could be a result of harvesting stem cells from bone marrow.
Hospital number six has denied the allegations. Evangelical churches in Ukraine have tried to change what they see as the atheistic approach towards life in Ukraine following decades of Communism. But reports of the new scandal were expected to lead to a new discussion as to how much has been achieved in this regard. (With BosNewsLife Monitoring and reports from Ukraine).
