BY Dr Paul John


I always ask myself, when will Nigerian medical doctors
embrace their fundamental human rights? Everybody shies away from the media while the impunity goes on. Many doctors become victims as the days go by. Just recently a lawyer whose car was confiscated by officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) secured a landmark judgement from a federal High court sitting in Lagos that FRSC has no right to fine alleged defaulters without giving them fair hearing as it is enshrined in s(36) of the constitution of the country and one of the cardinal principles of natural justice. If the lawyer were a medical doctor he would just pay the fine and the impunity would continue unabated.


Some years ago (circa 2012), members of Nigerian police arrested a medical doctor for carrying out what they tagged “criminal abortion”. To the police, all abortions are
criminal; just like any other layman out there; the police
believe that abortion is criminal while miscarriage is
natural even when pundits in the field believe that abortion or miscarriage is the same thing. In that matter, a woman took an abortifacient drug and when she started bleeding, she was rushed to the doctor’s hospital by a man who paraded himself as her husband. The doctor took clinical history, carried out physical examination and scanned the patient. The diagnosis revealed an Incomplete Miscarriage. The golden or standard rule in that case was
to evacuate the remnant of the conception. Both the
patient and her “husband” assented and evacuation was done.


Few weeks later another man who claimed to be the real
husband showed up and arrested the medical doctor for
carrying out “criminal” abortion on his wife without his
consent. Just like any other criminal cases in Nigeria, the men of the press used the opportunity to “prosecute” and
“convict” the medical doctor on the pages of their
newspapers using headlines like: An abortion doctor
nabbed; An abortionist on his way to jail; A quack doctor
who specialises in abortion incarcerated, etc. The media
gave the news undue publicity yet none of them bothered to follow the case to its logical end. And of course, that has been the problem with Nigerian Criminal justice system.
Once a suspect is arrested, the media will throw S.36 (5)
of our constitution to the wind and convict the suspect as charged on the pages of their newspapers. The question here is: was there any national identification database the medical doctor in question would have used to know that
the first man (who might be a boy friend to the patient)
was not the real husband? Was the doctor restricted by
any law in Nigeria from saving the life of his patient? Can
the doctor deny any reasonable medical assistance to the same patient for whom he had sworn to protect by the ethics of his medical practice?


There was yet another incident where a doctor who was
practising in the Southeast was accused of being a
member of a child trafficking cartel and was subsequently arrested. Expectedly, the media hyped the news and
sensationalised every bit of it. No one even bothered to
ask how the doctor came into the business. But as the
collateral facts of the case later revealed a young girl with obstructed labour was rushed to his clinic and the doctor
operated on the patient in order to save both the mother
and child. After discharging them, an older woman who
accompanied the younger mother to the hospital sold the baby and when the deal went awry the police investigators
arrested the doctor. My question is what concerns the
doctor in this case? But then, some officers of the police
will warn you not to teach them their job while the press
would give captions like A medical doctor who specialises
in child trafficking nabbed; yet members of the press
would hardly follow the case to its logical end at least to let the Nigerian public know that the doctor was indeed guilty
or innocent. And to worsen the matter, the doctor after
being let off the hook would not bother to seek redress in
the law court according to S. 46 of our constitution.
They would rather go to their worship centres to go and
give thanks to God. They would not take into cognisance
that when they were arrested, the media publicised it and now they were exonerated the media would be expected to give it same publicity. Some of the affected doctors would
accept to forgive the law enforcement agents who once
dragged their names into the mud without knowing that
even St Paul, as a lawyer, once sought his fundamental
human rights in Acts 16:16-40. They disgraced Paul and
Silas in the market square the previous day but when they saw the miraculous jailbreak and when they heard that St Paul was a Roman citizen by birth, the magistrate wanted to secretly release St Paul and his co-missionary but Paul refused because they humiliated them openly and now wanted to set them free secretly when they were found to be innocent. Nigerian Medical doctors are enjoined to brief a lawyer whenever our law enforcement agents manhandle them at least for posterity sake because if they keep on going scot-free many doctors will be their victims in the nearest future .


These two stories have paved way to an incident that just
happened in Nekede, a suburb of the Imo State Capital,
Owerri. I have decided to withhold the names of the
affected medical doctor ,his hospital and the patient
involved for best reason known to me . A pregnant woman
had her antenatal care in a private hospital at Nekede. The
obstetric ultrasonography erroneously showed twin
gestation (a male and a female) when there was a
singleton foetus. A caesarean section was finally carried
out on her, indicated for a transverse lie at term . A female
relative of the pregnant woman stood in front of the
operating theatre to 'catch' the 'babies'. When one of the
nurses in the theatre handed a female neonate to the
female relative, she was still expecting the second baby
according to the erroneous scan .As the operation ended and the remaining male baby was not handed over to her, she raised an alarm informing the husband of the patient
that the doctor conspired with the nurses inside the
operating theatre to sell the male baby.
Trust our law enforcement agents. They immediately
arrested the medical doctor, incarcerated him in the same
cell with die hard criminals. He was later paraded along
other kidnappers, child traffickers, armed robbers etc
before newsmen in Owerri. The police, as usual ,boasted that following a tip-off they smashed on all the criminals. The doctor's hospital was deserted and trust our people ,there were different versions of the story, some believed
that as the doctor's hospital was well equipped and
progressing that the business of child trafficking was the
secret of his success .The doctor was called names while
he was still cooling off in the police net .However just like the Bible says, weeping may endure only for a night but
joy comes in the morning .The patient's female relative
was the one that gave evidence that led to the arrest of the
medical doctor but she was the one who finally provided
evidence that exonerated the medical doctor.
First she informed the police that there was a second door
to the operating theatre through which the doctor gave the
male baby to a security man, who finally carried the baby
to the buyers who were anxiously waiting .She affirmed
that she heard when the doctor called the security man but
she could not come inside the theatre since she was
standing in front of the main entrance to the theatre. Police
were interested in the matter because the masses believe
that doctors are the richest set of people the same way
kidnappers are after medical doctors. This female relative
was ever ready to give the police more pieces of evidence
in order to permanently incarcerate the medical doctor.


However, when the news got to the Imo state ministry of
health, the Director of Medical services, Dr Anthony Igwe,
was detailed to investigate the matter to its logical end.
Meanwhile,the Director of medical services in any state
ministry of health is the representative of the Medical and
Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) in that state . Also, all
private hospitals in a state are under the supervision of the
directorate, among other functions of the directorate. In
Imo state, the director of medical service is a genius per
excellence. I visited him in his office on Friday, 15/04/16.
He is ever ready to teach the junior colleagues the basic
principles of medicine; I stayed about three hours in his
office. He taught me didactically, though I am not
surprised because one of our Alumni stickers States that
“A UNN graduate is naturally ahead of you”.
This genius, Dr Anthony Igwe, and his team of experts
physically visited the private hospital in question and
discovered that the operating theatre had only one
entrance which served also as the exit door hence the
patient's female relative lied that the security man in the
hospital carried the second baby out via the second (exit)
door at the instance of the doctor. That was not enough,
this medical juggernaut requested that the placenta be
provided for autopsy .Luckily as God may have it, the
hospital did not bury the placenta in the placenta pit
(which is the normal global practice) but they handed over
the placenta to the bellicose patient's female relative who
had been the one providing all the contradicting pieces of
evidence against an innocent doctor and his hospital. She
led the experts to where she buried the placenta by
herself. The placenta was exhumed and taken to the
Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Owerri for histopathology
examination . The report finally showed that the placenta
was for a singleton foetus and the doctor was thus
exonerated.
Yes, the doctor may be happy now that he was not
unjustly jailed but what about his reputation that was
dragged to the mud? What about his hospital? What about
the revenue to his hospital that was temporarily stopped
during his trial period? Where are the newsmen that carried
his initial child trafficking news? I am aware that the
doctor's friends and well wishers will advise him to forgive
all and move on in life. My own suggestion is that there
are things that are unforgivable. If we, mortals, should
forgive all the times,why has God not forgiven Satan for
trying to carry out a coup d’état in heaven many centuries
ago? The gospel according to St Matthew 12:31-32 even
goes further to list unforgivable sins. This nonsense must
stop. If the police in their characteristic nature had ordered
the demolition of the doctor's hospital as a “baby factory”
would people have advised him to forgive and move
ahead? We all read in the news in this country how the
buildings allegedly used for kidnapping, child trafficking
etc are demolished before the matter is charged to the
court.
The medical doctor should hire the services of legal
pundits and file separate civil cases ,one against the police
,one against the patient's female relative who was ready to
give false evidence, and the third suit against all the media
houses (both printed and non-printed) that carried the
news. For each of the three a compensation of at least 100
billion naira will be demanded as specific and general
damages to serve as a deterrent to others for posterity
sake.


Meanwhile,I remember the day I was called around
2am to come to a private hospital in port Harcourt to help
the doctors on the night duty over a medical emergency
.On my way,I was stopped by the police ,I told them I had
an emergency and time was of essence. They ignored my
request. They requested my papers which were complete, I even showed them the NMA sticker on my car. They
demanded my driver's licence which is permanently kept
in my car.After providing all that they requested , they then
requested for my association ID card which I hurriedly left
in the house .
They held me for more minutes until I got angry with them
.I reminded them that apart from the fact that I am medical
doctor, every citizen has an inalienable right to freedom of
movement as it is enshrined in s.41 of our constitution,
laws of the federal Republic of Nigeria .I went further to tell
them that even s.45 of the same constitution which
supports curfew to be declared at times, those on
essential services are not restricted .It should be noted
that when my own incident happened no curfew was
imposed in the state .I won them when I tutored them
about Identification parade. I told them that if they were in
doubt of my claims, they would just follow me down to the
hospital which was a shouting distance from where they
were wasting my time to confirm or refute my claims. As
usual they asked if I was teaching them their job .I told
them that Identification parade was introduced into the
police service to help identify those without any form of
identification or those whose means of identification were
questionable .They immediately let me go when I
threatened them that I would personally take up legal
cases against them should anything happen to the patient in question.

The seed of salvation, they say, is watered by the blood of
the innocent. This doctor at Nekede should blaze the trail
in civil suits against our law enforcement agents because
Ola Rotimi said that when the frog in the front falls into a
pit, others take caution .The most annoying aspect of the
whole nonsense is that when police arrest a medical
doctor over a medical matter, they will charge the doctor to
a conventional court where the judges/magistrates are not
trained or learned in medical jurisprudence and law. In
view of this S.28(2a) of the code of medical Ethics in
Nigeria ,established The Medical and Dental Practitioner's
Disciplinary Tribunal ,which has the status of a High court .
Also, S.28 (1a) of the same code established the Medical
and Dental Practitioners' Investigating Panel as a court of
first hearing in matters of alleged infamous conduct in
professional respects. If the police arrest a medical doctor
over an alleged infamous conduct, will they arraign the
doctor before the MDCN panel/tribunal where the judges
are learned in medical jurisprudence and law or will they
charge the doctor to a conventional court for the matter to
be presided over by judges not learned in medical
jurisprudence and law?


I am not ignorant of the police Act as s.4 of the police Act
lists all the general duties of a police officer and S.24 of
the same Act in consonance with s.10 of the Criminal
Prosecution Act confers upon the police officer the rights
to arrest without warrant, a person or group of persons
alleged to have committed, about to commit or is
committing any felony, misdemeanour, simple offence or
breach of peace.Generally , When the police arrest a
suspect then comes investigation and at the conclusion of
the investigation, the suspect is charged to a competent
law court .My question then is, why will police be
investigating an alleged medical infamous conduct when
there is a Medical and Dental Practitioners' Investigating
Panel established by an Act of the Parliament? If those
sections of the Police Act I quoted Supra give the
members of the Nigerian police an unlimited power of
arrest and to charge to any court of their choice, why did
they not investigate and arrest Senator Saraki and charge
him to a conventional High court instead of the rightful
Codes Of Conduct Tribunal ? I have been searching where
the police Act empowers the police to parade suspects
before the press against S.36 (5) of Nigerian constitution
which states, inter alia, that every suspect shall be
presumed to be innocent until he is proved guilty .
If the police power to arrest is unlimited, why should they
not arrest judges, Magistrates, justices alleged to have
been involved in any infamous conduct in professional
respects? Why must police have to wait for the National
Judicial Commission (which have experts learned in legal
jurisprudence) to try the judicial officers first? This is
important because if this anomaly is not nipped in the bud
, very soon a doctor will be operating a patient in the
theatre and the police will strike to execute their arrest
without warrant over an alleged infamous conduct in
professional respect. I am sure that even if the doctor
pleads for more time to finish the surgery, they will tell the
doctor not to teach them their job. The doctor will be taken
away so that the patient can die on the operating table
.Then the doctor will face the MDCN tribunal for negligence
.This is a challenge to the reviewers of our codes of
Medical Ethics in Nigeria. The lawyers (who are technically
the only learned people in the world) have solved this
problem in their profession. How?
The judicial officers are not liable to any legal prosecution
with respect to the discharge of their official duties ,this is
why judicial officer in a lower court can convict a suspect
and sentence him/her to death by hanging and when the
appellant courts upturn the verdict of the lower court, the
judicial officer can never be prosecuted over the
erroneous judgement but in the medical profession ,I have
seen consultants suffer different types of punishments for
taking a wrong decision /verdict over a patient's
management .Is it not preposterous and shocking that a
judicial officer who has all the time in this world to pass a
judgement is not liable to prosecution even if the
judgement passed is later found to be faulty by the
appellant courts but a medical doctor who has less than a
minute to take a decision ( or pass his own judgement )
over the management of a patient's health
condition,presenting as an emergency, is liable to both
civil and criminal prosecutions if his decisions are later
found to be faulty ?What an injustice to the medical
doctors globally ? I know that some may argue that a
doctor's error will lead to death, what of when a lower
judicial officer sentences a suspect to death and the
suspect does not have the resources to appeal the
judgement; won't the suspect (now a convict) still face
execution?


In conclusion, medical doctors should rise up to know
their rights and NMA should always help their members
get justice where necessary because injustice to any of her
members anyway is an affront to all her members
everywhere. MDCN will take a solid stand on the duties of
the Medical and Dental Practitioner's Investigating Panel
and the Medical and Dental Practitioner's Disciplinary
Tribunal because if the lawyer (Bar Tope Alabi) whose car
was confiscated by the officials of FRSC did not go to
court we would not know that FRSC does not have the
right to convict alleged traffic offenders and impose fines
on them without granting the alleged traffic offenders a fair
hearing .Also , Who has the statutory right to investigate
alleged infamous conduct by a medical doctor in
professional respects , the police or the Medical and
Dental Practitioners’ Investigating Panel?Can the police
hand over their own alleged erring officer to the court or
any other law enforcement agents for prosecution without an Orderly Room trial?


Dr Paul John
Port Harcourt,Rivers state,
mazipauljohn@gmail.com
http://www.medicalworldnigeria.com/

This epistle is too much. This is Nigeria for u n that is what we get when nothing is in place. D injustice is widespread n everybody is lamenting.