Stop rejecting treatment of gunshot victims, Lagos Government advises health care providers

Lagos State Government, LASG, has appealed to all health care providers to stop the trend of rejecting gunshot victims and other trauma patients on the excuse of requiring a police report or the need to provide evidence of funds before treatment.

The State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, made the appeal today, Sunday December 29, while reacting to investigations by the Ministry of Health. 

He revealed that some health facilities in the State are in the habit of rejecting or delaying care to trauma victims which has in some cases resulted in avoidable loss of lives. 

He urged hospitals, health centres and clinics to offer immediate comprehensive care to gunshot victims and other trauma patients in line with the Federal Government’s Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshot Act.

He noted that health care providers are duty bound according to their professional oaths to first save lives by offering immediate attention to any patient requiring urgent, critical and lifesaving care before any other considerations.

The Commissioner averred that the sanctity of human life should be the first consideration for any healthcare provider irrespective of circumstances leading to incident involving the trauma victim.

He noted that there are plans to review and revise the Lagos State Emergency policies and procedures in order to ensure prompt care for accident and trauma victims as well as service officials injured on their duties.

Prof. Akin Abayomi, added that the review of emergency policy will focus on emergency infrastructure, coordination, human resource capacity, response time, and obligations of citizens and health care providers.

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