Gunshot victims now to be treated without police report – Reps

Victims of gunshot wounds will henceforth be treated without Police report, the report on a Bill for an Act to make Provisions for the Compulsory Treatment and Care for the Victims of Gunshot and Other Matters Connected Therewith has said.

House of Representatives members adopted the report last Thursday.

The report, which was sponsored by Nkiruka Onyejeocha (PDP, Abia), Chairman, House Committee on Aviation, was passed and adopted after consideration at the Committee of the Whole.

Mrs Onyejeocha,  arguing the bill, said: “The issue of conditional access to medication by victims of gunshot in Nigeria has generated thorny arguments among scholars, policy makers, medical practitioners and the general public.”

“The central thesis of the argument from all sides revolves around the issue of saving lives vi’s-avis the provision of the extant law”.

According to her, the misinterpretation of the provision of the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provision) Act, Cap 398 of 1984 has been largely responsible for the refusal of medical practitioners to attend to gunshot victims which often time leads to loss of innocent lives.

The lawmaker said passing the bill will give unrestricted access to medical services by victims of gunshots; as well as strengthen legal provisions and guarantee peoples’ fundamental rights to life and dignity of their persons.

According to Mrs. Onyejeocha, the refusal to treat victims of gunshot also amounts to a negation of the ethics and oath of the medical profession (to save lives) which practitioners swore to keep.