NGO asks states to adopt law on treating gunshot victims before police report

Crime Victims Foundation of Nigeria (CRIVIFON), a non-governmental organisation, has asked states to adopt the law which provides for victims of accidents and gunshots to get treatment before police report.

Gloria Egbuji, a human rights activist and founder, CRIVIFON, said this on Wednesday at a media briefing in Lagos.

Egbuji said despite the passage of the Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshots Act in 2017 and the presidential assent in January 2018, many states are yet to domesticate the law.

According to her, out of the 36 states in Nigeria, only Lagos and Rivers have domesticated the law.

She also said due to the non-cooperation of some hospitals on attending to victims of gunshots and accidents, lives have been lost.

“Since 1998, the organisation has been leading the cause of gunshots and accidents victims by urging medical staff in private and public hospitals to admit the victims for treatment before asking them to produce a police report,” she said.

“It is now an offence for medical facilities to deny any gunshot or accident victim the right to be treated before being subjected to the submission of a police report.

“It is also an offence for the police to arrest or harass medical staff for treating a gunshot or accident victim who does not have a police report at the time of admission.”

She added that even though there is already a law on the treatment of gunshot and accident victims before police report, some hospitals have continued to demand police report, thereby putting the lives at risk.

“In the last 18 months, Nigeria has lost some of her citizens through the careless refusal of the hospitals to accept the victims for treatment,” she added.

“Among the recent victims of gunshot who died as a result of the refusal of hospitals to treat them without police report, even after the enactment of the Gunshot Victims Act, was a gospel music producer cum final year Higher National Diploma (HND) student at Ibadan Polytechnic popularly known as Ebenezer Ayeni.

“He was shot on Thursday, June 10, 2021, at his Ibadan, Oyo state residence by armed robbers a few days before his wedding.

“He was said to have been rushed to the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan and later a private hospital but was reportedly rejected by hospital staff, who demanded a police report before they could treat his gunshot injury. He died hours later in a pool of his blood.”

Egbuji, therefore, urged state governments to domesticate the law, and provide funds for indigent victims to get quick treatment.

She also urged the police to adopt improved methods of taking reports from doctors rather than subjecting them to “endless statements”.

Meanwhile, the Lagos state house of assembly had, in September 2022, passed a bill which provides for hospitals to treat victims of accident or crime before police report.