In this piece, Vivian Michael writes on the struggle in adherence to the right to life as enshrined in Section 33 (1) of the 1999 Constitution and Robbery and the already repelled Firearms (Special Provisions) Act Cap R. 11, Laws of the Federation. Section 4(2) as it concerns treatment of gunshot and stab victims as spate of insecurity soars higher.
“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 going contrary to the Gunshot Act 2017 which mandates all medical facilities to provide for the compulsory treatment and care for victims of gunshots; and related matters.
“In line with this mandate, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare is concerned about the spate of gunshot incidences and the refusal of some of the health facilities to administer treatment and care for the victim or patient without a police report.
“Therefore we call on all medical practitioners to comply with this national law by providing prompt treatment and care for these victims to prevent death while, strategies are being put in place by the Ministry to ensure compliance to the Act by Nigerian healthcare facilities,” the statement noted.”
These concerns were ventilated by the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Pate, through a statement signed on February 7, 2024, by the Director of Information, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Patricia Deworitshe.
This expression is following the spate of insecurities in the country in recent times and the fact that 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 who do not present police reports.
Many have lost their lives occasioned by the insistence of police reports from hospital before commencement of any form of treatment administered to gunshot and stab victims as well as accident victims in some cases.
Nigerian police have relied on the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act Cap R. 11, Laws of the Federation. Section 4(2) which mandates hospitals not to patients with bullet or knife wounds before receiving police reports, disregarding the urgency of the medical attention needed by the victims Genesis Of The Police Reports Before Treatment: Due to the proliferation of firearms and armed robbery cases around the country after the civil war, the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act Cap R. 11, Laws of the Federation. Section 4(2) was passed into law.
Specifically, the aim of this decree was to prevent suspected criminals with gun shot wounds from receiving medical attention and escaping afterwards.
According to this Act, it shall be the duty of any person, hospital or clinic that admits, treats, or administers any drug to any person suspected of having bullet wounds to immediately report to the police.
It maintained in Section 4(4), that a person convicted of contravening this law, shall be liable: in the case of an individual, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years; and in the case of a hospital or clinic, to a fine of N10,000 and in addition, the hospital or clinic shall be closed down.
Sequel to the decree and in a bid to avoid harassment from the police, hospital personnels deny victims with gunshot/wounds treatment until they can tender a police report, a practice which had lead to numerous avoidable deaths of Nigerians.
However, the flip side of this law is that it breeches the Hippocratic Oath taken by doctors, mandating them to protect lives of people as thier fundamental responsibility. Sadly, the actions contravenes the fundamental human right.
The right to life, enshrined in Section 33 (1) of the 1999 Constitution. Repelling Of The Law Consequence to the above, in December 2014, the then President, Goodluck Jonathan, signed into law the ‘National Health Act, where it enshrined in Section 20 (1) that “a health care provider, health worker or health establishment shall not refuse a person emergency medical treatment for any reason whatsoever.’’
The Act also maintained in sub-section (2) that, “any person who contravenes this section is guilty of an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of N100,000 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or to both.’’ Sadly, years after the passage of the bill, hospitals still deny victims of medical emergencies treatments for failure to tender police reports.
In the same vien, President, Muhammadu Buhari, in 2017, reviewed the National Health Act, to a new bill titled, “Compulsory Treatment and Care of Victims of Gunshots Act.” which compels hospitals to treat persons with gunshot wounds and other health emergencies.
The bill insists that every person, including security agents, assist any person with gunshot wounds and ensure that the person is taken to the nearest hospital for treatment.
Moreover, the bill stated that victims of gunshot wounds must be provided with necessary treatment from medical workers and assistance from available security agencies while also mandating that none with gunshot wounds be refused immediate and adequate treatment by any hospital in Nigeria, whether or not an initial monetary deposit was made.
It insisted that any hospital or doctor who contravenes the law is liable on conviction to a fine of N100,000 or six months imprisonment or both.
Meanwhile, the law demands that hospitals have a duty to report the gunshot wond cases to the police as soon as possible after they commence treatment. The law does not stop or bar them from treating such patients but only demands that they report to the police.
Therefore, if any doctor or hospital is harassed by the police for treating a victim with gunshot wounds, then they should report the conduct of the officer(s) to the commissioner of police for the state.
Also, If any doctor fails to treat victims with gunshot wounds, they shouldn’t hide under this law. No doctor should hide under the perceived or imaginary fear of police harassment to deny victims of gunshot wounds treatment. They shouldn’t abdicate their responsibilities in the pretext that the police will harass them. Victims Recount Experiences One of the luckiest victim of the inhumane attitude of the hospitals is kabiru Aminu.
Recounting his experience, he stated that in 2019, when he was still driving trailer, he was shot by hoodlums between the boundary of Nasarawa State and Benue state. Good Samaritans rushed him to nearby hospital but was refused treatment because of the gunshot wound.
He said “They shot sporadically at me from my front windscreen, I squatted under my steering while the bullets flies above my head, unfortunately one bullet cut me on my shoulder blade. I managed to drive pass them and parked at the nearest town around 7pm.
“Some of the town’s indigenes took me to the nearest hospital and they refused to attend to me demanding police report. All the pleas of those who brought me that it was indeed a robbery attack and that i am a driver failed on a deaf ear. They didn’t touch me till around 11pm when those who went to bring police report came back with it. It was a very terrible and traumatic experience for me and that is the reason I stopped my driver work.
A food seller, Adamma Ukora’s story was one of the most pathetic one, she lost her first son in 2021, in Anambra state during a bank robbery attack.
She said “I sent my son to deposit money in the bank. it wasn’t long he is gone before we started hearing gunshots from that angle. My son was shot in the stomach, between the naval and his groin region.
“We rushed him to three hospital and of them refuse to touch him. All of them are saying the same thing, get a police report. One nurse even told me that they don’t know if he was among the robbers that robbed the bank, this is somebody that doesn’t know me or my son. He died when we are trying to get him to hospital number five.
“He would have been twenty years March this year, he died at the age of eighteen years, his death changed my view about life, the world and the people living in it.
A nurse working with one of the state owned hospital in South Western Nigeria, Ruth Okemute, not her real name, stated that during her internship somebody died because of unattended gunshot wound.
She said ” During my training, I was working night shift when some group of university girls brought in one girl with gunshot wound. There was a fracas during their Student Union Government (SUG) night party and the girl was cut in the crossfire. If you see the girl, very fine and fair girl, long story short, she died because her friends are even too drunk to know what is police report talk more of rushing to get one. ” I tried to administer some treatment but i was warned to stay clear, I was even queried after.
The hospital management told me a hospital was closed because they treated somebody with a gunshot wound not knowing he is a kidnaper that was shot when he went to collect ransom.
The police traced him to hospital and arrested both Doctors and Nurses leading to the hospital been closed permanently.
The Way Forward
Sadly, nothing seems to have changed as it concerns this request for police report by hospitals before treating a gunshot victim.
The government and stakeholders should put their feet down to see to the enforcement of the ‘Compulsory Treatment and Care of Victims of Gunshot Act’ of 2017.
The call and awareness of this law is paramount now as the country is battling with the highest incidents of insecurities bedeviling it. Families and relatives of these victims should be up in arms in protest and sue any hospital or personnel that acted in contravention of the law.
