By Femi Falana

IT was reported in the media last week that President Goodluck Jonathan had signed the National Health Bill into law. As a legal framework for the management and regulation of the health sector the Act has addressed some of the challenges and concerns of the Nigerian people with respect to access to medical care. Unfortunately, some of the provisions of the Act have empowered doctors to violate the right of Nigerians to life by removing the organs of living persons without authorization. Before examining the obnoxious provisions of the Act it is pertinent to note that it is the most comprehensive legislation on healthcare in Nigeria.

Section 46 of the Act which has barred public officers from travelling abroad for medical check-up, investigation and treatment at public expense should compel the Federal Government to fix and upgrade some hospitals to international standards. To ensure the provision of basic health services to Nigerians not less than one per cent of the consolidated revenue fund of the Federal Government shall be allocated to the National Provision Fund on an annual basis. But having regard to the enormous costs of medical services the one per cent allocation is like a drop in the ocean. It is, however, hoped that the National Health Insurance Scheme will be reorganized to partner with the National Health Council (created under the Act) to ensure the provision of efficient and affordable healthcare delivery system throughout the country.

It is, however, doubtful if both chambers of the National Assembly which had passed the Bill and the President who assented to it studied the provisions of the law. Otherwise how can the President and the federal legislators justify section 51 of the Act which provides as follows:

“1. A person shall not remove tissue from a living person for transplantation in another living person or carry out the transplantation of such tissue except:

(a) In a hospital authorized for that purpose; and (b) On the written authority of; (i) The medical practitioner in charge of clinical services in that hospital or any other medical practitioner authorized by him or her; or (ii) In the case where there is no medical practitioner in charge of the clinical services at that hospital a medical practitioner authorized thereto by the person in charge of the hospital.

2. The medical practitioner stated in subsection(1)(b) shall not be the lead participation in a transplant for which he has granted authorization under that subsection.

3. For the purpose of transplantation, there shall be an independent tissue transplantation committee within any health establishment that engages in the act and practice of transplantation as prescribed.”
It is indubitably clear from the said section 51 of the Act that the National Assembly has infringed on the fundamental rights of every citizen of Nigeria to the dignity of their person and the right to privacy as well as freedom of thought, conscience and religion guaranteed by sections 34, 37 and 38 of the amended 1999 Constitution. As there can be no justification for reducing the body of a Nigerian citizen to spare parts of vehicles which can be removed and sold in the market the National Assembly has, by the obnoxious provision of the National Health Act, 2014, abused its legislative powers. Before the passage of the controversial bill into law the constitutional right of the Nigerian people to reject or refuse medication including a life saving treatment on religious grounds had long been recognized by the courts. The essence of the constitutional right is that an individual should be allowed to choose a course for his/her life subject to overriding public interests. Hence, the consent of patients or their family members is required whv bnere surgical operations are recommended. Where such consent is not freely given a doctor cannot perform an operation on any person without a court order.[size=15pt] From the information at my disposal a powerful Foundation in the United States influenced the introduction of section 51 to the bill at the National Assembly[/size]. It is sad to note that none of the legislators could challenge the sponsors of the provision which cannot be found in any of the health legislations in western countries.

Since medical doctors have been empowered to decide when to remove organs from living persons Section 51 of the Act constitutes an infringement of the rights of citizens to life, dignity of their persons as well as the rights to privacy and freedom of thought, conscience and religion guaranteed by Section 33, 34, 37 and 38 of the Constitution. In Medical and Dental Practitioner Disciplinary Tribunal v. Okonkwo (2001) WRN 1 the Supreme Court held that a patient has the constitutional right to reject a life-serving treatment on religious n grounds. In the leading judgment of the apex court Justice Emmanuel Ayoola held inter alia: “The patient’s constitutional right to object to medical treatment or, particularly, as in this case, to blood transfusion on religious grounds is founded on fundamental rights protected by the 1979 Constitution…The right to privacy implies a right to protect one’s thought, conscience or religious belief and practice from coercive and unjustified intrusion; and, one’s body from unauthorized invasion. The right to freedom of thought, conscience or religion implies a right not to be prevented, without lawful justification, from choosing the course of one’s life, fashioned on what one believes in, and a right not to be coerced into acting contrary to religious belief. The limits of these freedoms, as in all cases, are where they impinge on the rights of others or where they put the welfare of society or public health in jeopardy.”

It is pertinent to point out that it is the medical doctor or manager of a hospital and not the donor who has the power to authorize that an organ be removed from a living Nigerian citizen. The definition of “organ” in the law includes kidney, liver, heart, lens, ovarian eggs, sperm. The proponents of the law are likely to refer to section 48 thereof which provides for the “informed consent” of a donor. But such consent “may be waived for medical investigations and treatment in emergency cases”. As far as the fundamental right of a Nigerian to dignity is concerned there can be no waiver of consent under any medical condition.

Since the consent clause may be waived for “medical investigation and treatment in emergency cases” it does appear that medical practitioners and hospitals have been licensed to remove tissues and organs of living Nigerian citizens as any medical condition may be considered an emergency. By denying patients the right to give consent or authorize the removal of vital organs from their bodies the National Assembly has empowered doctors to subject Nigerians to degrading and inhuman treatment. In other words, Section 51 of the Act constitutes an egregious assault on the humanity of Nigerians. The provision of the law cannot be allowed to be implemented in any civilized society. Therefore, the National Assembly should expunge it from the law without any delay.

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/12/removing-body-organs-without-consent-permitted-national-health-act-2014/#sthash.5oC3PYH9.dpuf

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Nigerians must rise against section 51 of the National health bill that allows removal of organs without patient's or family's consent. Nigerians Rise!

http://jemimanigeria.com/health/open-letter-to-president-goodluck-jonathan-not-to-assent-to-the-national-health-bill-2014-passed-by-the-national-assembly

Read this from a Prolife Organization. Nigerian's are busy sleeping while their organs are already been bid for by international bodies.

NATIONAL SECURITY READ AND CIRCULATE WIDELY
WRITE YOUR OWN PROTEST!

16th July, 2014

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCON,

President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the

Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Your Excellency,

The Global Prolife Alliance (GPA) would like to draw your attention to the greatest National Security Threat posed by the National Health Bill 2014 as passed by the National Assembly and urge you not to assent to this NHB 2014 because it was funded by the Foreign Biotechnology Companies and International Organ Trafficking Cartel to use Nigerians for Biological Slave Trade and Organ donation! NO CHANGES were made from the prior versions, only cosmetic rewording!

In summary, the NHB 2014, has serious flaws, since the Bill fails to protect the ‘Sanctity of Life’ and ‘Dignity of the Human person’ as enshrined in the UN Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The Association of General and Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria at the 36th Annual General Meeting (AGM) pointed out the serious flaws in the current bill (see http://www.medicalworldnigeria.com/2014/05/communique-issued-at-the-end-of-the-36th-agm-and-isc-of-the-association-of-general-and-private-medical-practitioners-of-nigeria#.U8b1crGpCiU ). It would be successfully challenged in Nigerian and International Human Rights courts. Here are the highlights:

· The NHB 2014 permits the trafficking in human ovarian eggs and sperms, by not mandating use of human gametes (ovarian eggs and sperms) under CONSENT. Note that, the Bill deceptively excludes ‘gametes’ in the definition of ‘tissue’ in the Interpretation section, so that it is not protected by CONSENT for tissues. The poaching of human ovarian eggs would lead to medical complications of ovarian Hyperstimulation Syndrome, that would result in deaths of over 10 million poor Nigerian women in the next five years, who may be forced by economic hardship to sell their ovarian eggs. The use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) Foods (Bill Gates Yellow Cassava, Rice, Maize, Millet, Yam etc.) was designed to create artificial famine at will. The genes for replanting and growth in the GMOs have been switched off. So women would need to DONATE THEIR OVARIAN EGGS FOR FOOD CROP seeds that are issued through FMOA, IITA, Root crops institute etc. This is why we have the Foreign Sponsored Boko Haram Crisis that has targeted and killed over 80,000 farmers and displaced 3 million in the Northeast natural food basket of Nigeria. Bill Gates and Monsanto are seeking to replace the farms in the Northeast with GMOs plantations (see details: http://crimefacts.org/another-group-links-bill-gates-to-boko-haram-insurgency-in-nigeria/ )

. Bill Gates owns over 90% of the Embryonic Stem Cell Biotech Companies, owns Monsanto the GMOs company, owns Blackwater private army (see: http://www.voltairenet.org/article179691.html ) who hires mercenaries from Liberia and Sierra Leone to fight in Nigeria (see: http://www.counterpunch.org/2009/04/06/blackwater-in-liberia/print) who were Charles Taylor’s former child soldiers (see: http://www.theamericanconservative.com/blackwater-xe-scours-war-torn-africa-for-new-hires/ ) and now so-called Boko Haram trained at the CIA base in Burkina Faso (see http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-expands-secret-intelligence-operations-in-africa/2012/06/13/gJQAHyvAbV_story.html )

. The Bill Gates Foundation and their allied international donor organizations are sponsors of the NHB 2014, to create sources for 100 million ovarian eggs per year from 10 million Nigerian women who would die 2-3 years later. Nigeria today is the highest exporter of ovarian eggs in the World according to EU Policy Report, so IVF practitioners seek a legalized framework to expand egg poaching from Nigerians. The Chibok girls kidnapping was used to pressure Nigeria but so far failed. Now strikes funded through proxies in the various sectors of Nigerian economy is now in use in the mix with some legitimate agitations. Please don’t yield to this pressure because the country will totally capitulate on every threat resulting in deaths of millions of Nigerians!

· The NHB 2014 does not provide for explicit DONOR consent for human organ transplantation in Sections 48 and 51, which creates room for human organ poaching and trafficking trade that would endanger the lives of many Nigerians. It is alarming that the international organized crime cartels have become involved in Nigeria, seeking to open new opportunities after the closure of the illegal human organ sales in India and the Philippines.

· The NHB 2014 mandates issuance of Certificate of Standards in Section 13, focused on building and equipment requirements rather than medical services. The Bill was deceptively crafted to mandate closure of many private and mission hospitals in Nigeria within the next 24 months, while providing for thriving foreign owned and operated hospitals in Nigeria built under the International Building Code for hospitals not matched by 98% of Nigerian hospitals today. The ensuing chaos in the health sector would lead to many Nigerians loosing their lives.

· The NHB 2014 in Sections 43 and 45 does not offer job security for Nigerian public health workers during resolution of industrial disputes. The idea is to sack Nigerian health workers from key teaching hospitals and replace them with foreign workers involved in organ harvesting allowed in Section 51 where the Foreign Doctors authorize organ transplantation from Nigerians to foreigners on ‘Organ Transplant Tourism’ in Nigeria.

The NHB by proposing FREE Emergency Services in Section 20 is impractical and unsustainable; rather Nigeria should aim at Universal Health Coverage Insurance Scheme. It is an unacceptable abuse of human rights in Section 48 that waives the CONSENT clause even for free emergency treatment, since it would expose patients to many abuses including organ poaching for sale allowed in Section 51

· The NHB 2014 in Sections 43 and 45 does not offer job security for Nigerian public health workers during resolution of industrial disputes. The idea is to sack Nigerian health workers from key teaching hospitals and replace them with foreign workers involved in organ harvesting allowed in Section 51 where the Foreign Doctors authorize organ transplantation from Nigerians to foreigners on ‘Organ Transplant Tourism’ in Nigeria.

· The NHB by proposing FREE Emergency Services in Section 20 is impractical and unsustainable; rather Nigeria should aim at Universal Health Coverage Insurance Scheme. It is an unacceptable abuse of human rights in Section 48 that waives the CONSENT clause even for free emergency treatment, since it would expose patients to many abuses including organ poaching for sale allowed in Section 51.

We thank you in anticipation.

Yours sincerely,

Academician Prince Dr Philip C. Njemanze MD, Chairman, Global Prolife Alliance (GPA).

Copies sent to: Pope Francis I, Heads of States, African and South American Parliamentarians, Catholic Bishop Conferences in Nigeria and Africa, Protestant Bishops, AU Parliament, EU Parliament, US Congress, National Parliaments in Europe and Asia, Organization of Arab States, UN Ambassadors, UN Security Council, National and International Press

MODS please frontpage.

The Scenario: You walk into a hospital for treatment of stomache ache or headache, the physician or manager decides that it is an emergency, he then removes your kidney without your consent for onward shipment or transfer to a rich American who has paid the hospital for a good kidney. Fiam! your kidney is shipped to the U.S. You can't go to court because-

1. The new health law does not require you/your family's consent for removal

2. Any condition can be deemed an emergency by the healthcare provider/physician/manager as the law is not explicitly clear on it's definition.

NIGERIANS ARE IN SOUP. IT COULD BE YOU, IT COULD BE YOUR RELATIVE, ACT NOW. THAT LAW MUST BE EXPUNGED.

GEJ moved from a drunkard clueless president who doesn't do anything for his people to an evil beast who wants to start selling human organ? This alone is enough to cost the clueless one his remaining slim chance he has at ever winning the election.

This ovarian egg removal thing is real, here in Ilorin i know girls who claimed they got paid as much as 100k each to have their eggs taken. They told them they were helping childless Nigerian couples, nothing was said about foreigners though. It is happening in university of Ilorin teaching hospital, a government owned institution but it is done secretly.

This is evil,and must be condemned by allow.
Tambuwal and the chairman of house committee on health,including the minister of health,should come clean on this,before we take to the street.

seun, obinoscopy, oam4j,ngwakwe please save Nigerians, save us. This is not about politics, this is about our lives.

Zeezy99:
This ovarian egg removal thing is real, here in Ilorin i know girls who claimed they got paid as much as 100k each to have their eggs taken. They told them they were helping childless Nigerian couples, nothing was said about foreigners though. It is happening in university of Ilorin teaching hospital, a government owned institution but it is done secretly.

.what a f**k.
This is evil,and all of us,must stand up against it.

And we are here shouting Buhari and Jonathan while our lawmakers have sold our RIGHT to foreigners.

We must protest against this Evil Bill!!!!!!!!

[quote
author=Zeezy99 post=29823404]This ovarian egg removal thing is real,
here in Ilorin i know girls who claimed they got paid as much as 100k
each to have their eggs taken. They told them they were helping
childless Nigerian couples, nothing was said about foreigners though. It
is happening in university of Ilorin teaching hospital, a government
owned institution but it is done secretly.[/quote]

what? this shouldnt be taken lightly o.

This is serious o.Front page moderator

So what the Russians revealed was true.

wordcat:
And we are here shouting Buhari and Jonathan while our lawmakers have sold our RIGHT to foreigners.

We must protest against this Evil Bill!!!!!!!!

d corrupt clueless and illiterate president who cannot read before signing into law,wil also be blame,for now buhari for 2015.

Chisos...

Jesusloveyou:
d corrupt clueless and illiterate president who cannot read before signing into law,wil also be blame,for now buhari for 2015.

The earlier we come out and protest against that Evil Bill the better for us all, let leave GMB-GEJ issue out of this for now.

If hospital can decides to remove my Kidney in the case of emergency without my consent/ people's consent then OUR LIVES ARE IN DANGER!!!!!!

Na wah o, fear don dey grip me

Zeezy99:
This ovarian egg removal thing is real, here in Ilorin i know girls who claimed they got paid as much as 100k each to have their eggs taken. They told them they were helping childless Nigerian couples, nothing was said about foreigners though. It is happening in university of Ilorin teaching hospital, a government owned institution but it is done secretly.

How true is this?
So we know how best we'll fight this bill.

My dear countrymen, there are more than 90,000 Americans awaiting Kidney transplant as we speak. Your kidneys have been paid for already. Fight this law now!. Rise!

This is scary

And that was how the story died without anyone doing a thing about it.
Pitiful!

if this is allowed, a lot health workers will become target for mob action.

OTOKOTO business boom!

lord have mercy.

Scary

This is what happens when you allow a drunken mumu who should be feeding fish down the creek to rule over you.