The Federal Government has directed all public and private healthcare facilities across the country to provide immediate medical attention to gunshot victims whether they have police clearance or not.
The instruction is contained in a statement issued by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare on Saturday via its official X handle.
The statement titled ‘Non-Compliance of Medical Facilities on the Gunshot Act 2017,’ signed by the Director of Information, Patricia Deworitshe, said the ministry had received complaints on the rejection of gunshot victims by hospitals nationwide, which had resulted in loss of lives.
The statement urged the Nigerian police to comply with and enforce the provisions of the compulsory treatment and care of victims of gunshot in line with Act 2017 with promptness, as well as reassure the health facilities that treatment of gunshot victims is not illegal.
The order was issued under the directive of the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate.
The statement read: “In recent times, society has witnessed a rise in the loss of lives as a result of the refusal of some health facilities to attend to gunshot victims of chance who do not present police reports.
“It has come to the knowledge of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of the slow or non-compliance by most medical facilities to provide for the compulsory treatment and care for victims of gunshots and related matters.
“The Act further goes further to stipulate that every hospital in Nigeria, whether private, shall accept or receive for immediate and adequate treatment with or without police clearance.
“Every person, including security agents, shall render every possible assistance to any person with gunshot wounds and ensure that the person is taken to the nearest hospital for immediate treatment.
“The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare Minister, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, therefore calls on all medical practitioners to comply with this national law by providing prompt treatment and care for these victims to prevent death.”
Hospital rejection of patients with gunshot or stab wounds in Nigeria has tragically resulted in countless premature deaths.
In 2008, Saka Saula, then chairman of the Lagos State chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, fell victim to a brutal shooting at his residence.
Despite desperate efforts to save him, a nearby private hospital refused treatment, and he tragically died en route to a public hospital.
Bayo Ohu, a renowned journalist with the Guardian newspapers, tragically lost his life to gunshot wounds sustained during a violent attack on his Lagos residence in September 2009.
Ohu’s relatives rushed him to the hospital, only to be met with a heartless refusal to treat him without a police report.
Their subsequent efforts to transfer him to another hospital were tragically unsuccessful.
Also, Kazeem, a tragic victim of the #EndSARS protests, succumbed to his injuries in October 2020 after being denied timely medical attention at Bowen University Teaching Hospital, where doctors callously demanded a police report before treatment.
In a tragic incident in 2021, Ebenezer Ayeni, a 30-year-old music producer and vocal instructor on the cusp of getting married, was brutally shot by armed robbers who invaded his residence in Ibadan, Oyo State.
The victim was rushed to the University College Hospital, Ibadan, and another private hospital, but both medical centres refused to treat him without a police report.
Ayeni was said to have given up the ghost hours later.
Furthermore, a shocking video went viral on social media on September 27, 2023, showing a woman, later identified as Greatness Olorunfemi, lying by the roadside along the Maitama-Kubwa Expressway after being brutally pushed from a moving vehicle.
Tragically, Olorunfemi, a dedicated community developer, lost her life at Maitama General Hospital, where medical attention was withheld due to the hospital’s insistence on a police report before treatment.
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