Child abuse cases on the rise
The Head of the Child Protection Centre of the Child Health Department at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr Ebenezer Badoe, has expressed concern about the increasing number of defilement cases being reported at the centre.
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He said since the establishment of the centre about five years ago, it had treated more than 150 cases, comprising physical abuse, medical neglect, sexual abuse, among other issues, with the last one always topping the list.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra, Dr Badoe wondered how on earth a one or two-year-old baby could contract vaginal warts, adding that that could only mean that the baby had been sexually assaulted.
He said of the sexual abuse cases involving both boys and girls, the current trend was frightening, as the victims were mostly babies aged between one and three.
Some of the babies, he said, had contracted vaginal warts, a sexually transmitted disease, while others had their entire sexual organs destroyed.
He said because Korle-Bu was a teaching hospital, only the serious cases were referred to it, especially from the regions, but in Accra such cases were worse in the Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipal Assembly (LEKMA) and La General hospitals.
He said in most cases the mothers of the babies were so traumatised that they had to be counselled in order to come to terms with the situation.
According to him, most of the perpetrators of those heinous crimes were the fathers of the victims, relations, church members and other children who themselves had been victims before.
Dr Badoe said the case of the three-year-old girl from Daboase in the Western Region was only a tip of the iceberg, as more serious cases had been recorded.
He indicated that the country had not attached any seriousness to child abuse cases as they were usually swept under the carpet and treated as if they did not exist.