"They Waited For Police Report Until He Died"

Doctor should be held responsible!

By: Prince Victor

Fundamentally, the core duty of a doctor and other professionals in the health sector is to save live.

To me, "It is sheer mischief, ignorance, disinformation or misinformation for anyone to say that you must get a Police report before you are treated as a victim of an accident or gunshot wound, the requirement is after the doctors must have saved life and stabilised the victim, they are required to report after treatment and not before treatment".

That requirement is intended to avoid a
scenario where a suspected armed robber, cultist, kidnapper or even a terrorist, after sustaining a gunshot wound during an engagement with the Police or other law enforcement officers, gets treated and probably continues in his criminal activities."

There are sixteen (16)sections in the Act 2017 of the "Compulsory Treatment and Care of Accident and Gunshot Victims". following are notable among them:

1. Every hospital is to receive and treat victims of accident or gunshot wounds with or without police clearance and/or payment of an initial deposit, but are duty bound to report to the nearest police station within two hours of commencing treatment on the victim.

2.No person with an accident or gunshot wound shall be subjected to torture or any inhuman or degrading treatment by any person or authority including the police or any security agency. This provision reaffirms the constitutional right of every citizen to dignity of human person.

3.The police may only receive an accident or gunshot victim upon certification of fitness by the Chief Medical Director of the hospital where he is receiving treatment.

Medical practitioner who refuses to attend to victim for reasons of cruel, unlawful and inexcusable request of police report is liable to 5 (five) years imprisonment or a sum of N500,000.00 or both.

It is therefore pertinent and salient for the authorities to act upon the Act 2017 as enshrined in the Nigeria constitutional, it will serve as a deterrent to other medical practitioners and hospitals in synonymous cases upon reoccurrence.

May the soul of Pilot Chika Ernet rest in peace.