Stop Harassing Doctors Who Treat Patients With Gunshot Wounds, NMA Tells Police

By Uche Mbah

The Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, has declared that law enforcement agents have no right to harass doctors who treat gunshot-wounded patients since doctors have a duty only to save the lives of patients.

Police and other law enforcement agents have, allegedly, been harassing doctors who treat patients with gunshot wounds without asking how they got the wounds.

Most hospitals, consequently, reject victims with gunshot wounds.

Innocent Ujah, President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), during a parley on Channels Television on Friday says there is no law mandating doctors to demand police reports before treating victims of gunshots.

“As doctors, we don’t need police reports in emergency cases to treat patients. What you need to do is to save the life of the patients,” he said.

“Unfortunately, the law enforcement agencies in this country have lost their bearing in terms of control, they have no business asking us to get police reports before we treat emergencies.

“The Nigeria Police should be educated on the role of the medical doctor. A medical doctor doesn’t need any permission before he attends to any emergency. We don’t even ask for fees.”

“You must first get the patient alive before you would think about fees.

“The reality on the ground is that when you do that you may be an accomplice; they may accuse you of hobnobbing or hiding, in cases of armed robbery and the rest.

“That creates fear and uncertainty and insecurity for the doctors and that’s why some doctors ask for police reports but by and large, there’s no law that says a doctor must seek a police report before he treats an emergency.

“I think it is the overzealousness of the police that when you treat such cases, they might say you’re complicit. So obviously the doctor is not safe and needs to be protected.

“Doctors have been harassed, some of them locked up; they have been killed in the process of saving lives because of the police.”