Doctors Urged To Attend to Patients with Gun Wound Without Police Report

Medical doctors have been advised to consider treatment for victims of gunshot wounds even without police report.

This was said by the chairman of the Medical Advisory Commission, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Charles Toby in his presentation to mark the World Family Doctors Day in Port Harcourt.

Toby argued that the World Health Law 2014 permits suspects with gunshot wounds to be treated by medical doctors without recourse to the offence they have committed.

He further argued that many innocent Nigerians have lost their lives due to refusal of medical doctors to administer treatment on victims of bullet wounds without police report.

Toby said: “The National Health Law 2014 clearly made a provision that such people be treated because at that time, it is an emergency situation. The Act also said that nobody should be discriminated at the point of service under emergency situation, whether there is money or not. If you come to imagine it, the person is not convicted by any court. So the person should be treated and be alive before the person can face the judicial system. So, there is nothing wrong in treating such a person.”