FG Orders Hospitals to Treat Gunshot Victims

Written by Duncan Wednesday, 14 October 2009

Henceforth, hospitals across the country must treat gunshot victims or  face criminal charges and a jail term or a fine, the Federal Government has said.

The order from the government follows the rising death toll of gunshot and accident victims denied treatment due to lack of police report and other unlawful requirements.

It is also less than a month after the death of the Assistant Political Editor of Guardian Newspapers, Mr. Bayo Ohu, whose chances of survival was jeopardized when he was reportedly denied medical treatment by a hospital asking for police report.

At a news conference in Abuja, the Minister of Health, Professor Babatunde Osoti-mehin, and the Minister of State in the Ministry, Dr. Aliyu Idi Hong, asked hospitals to desist from delaying the treatment of such victims on any ground, saying the saving of lives should be paramount.

The minister who was flanked by the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Uba Ringim, who represented the Inspector General of Police, Ogbonna Onovo, and the Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Commission, Osita Chidoka, said delay in treatment might result in the loss of lives thereby destroying evidence which would have been cardinal to the case.

“We as medical professionals should treat first. We should not put money before the lives of our patients. Do not ask for payment or police report, just give treatment,” he said. Ringim who spoke on the issue disclosed that a directive had been issued on the matter.

“We have issued directives to all police stations on the matter and ordered them to carry the message to all clinics in their vicinity. “Already, we have sent out circulars to those effect and have warned our men not to query any hospital that treats accident or gunshot victims.

“It is unfortunate that hospitals refuse to give care. What is important is to protect lives, treat them, give them all the attention and later contact the police with all the information,’ he said.

Chidoka stated that refusal or rejection of a gunshot or accident victims is a crime and contravens section 10/4/Z of the FRSC code. It  attracts a fine of N50,000 and above, he added.

According to him, that section would henceforth be enforced against any hospital or persons in default.