Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Samoan man investigated for illegally circumcising boys

Posted at 03:19 on 14 February, 2012 UTC

The police in Samoa are investigating a man for unlawfully carrying out circumcisions on 28 teenage boys.

Most of the youths later needed medical care at the Poutasi District Hospital.

A senior nurse says the first seven victims were brought to the hospital last Friday morning when parents became concerned at the impact of the operations.

The nurse says the boys’ penises were septic and swollen.

The doctors and nursing staff were then sent to the village of Saleilua Falealii where the circumcisions took place, to provide medical treatment for the rest of the children who had been operated on.

The parents of the 28 victims had paid the man, who had no medical qualifications, 15 US dollars each for the circumcisions.