... Rejects six-month jail term for doctors over delays in emergency treatment
The Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) has rejected a proposed law seeking to jail doctors for six months over delays in emergency treatment, describing it as an attempt to punish doctors for the failures of government.
The proposed amendment to the National Health Act, which has reportedly passed second reading in the Senate, seeks to impose a six-month jail term or a fine of up to ₦300,000 on healthcare professionals and facilities over delays in emergency medical treatment and referral.
But NARD says the National Assembly is criminalising the victims of a broken system instead of fixing it.
"Fund our hospitals, equip our facilities, employ more health workers, provide constant electricity, and strengthen emergency services; not more prisons," the association said.
In a strongly-worded statement signed by its President, Dr. Ogar Emmanuel Idoko, Secretary General, Dr. Besongngem Akotanchi, and Publicity Secretary, Dr. Ashimom Timothy, NARD said it was unacceptable to punish doctors for a system successive governments have failed to fund, equip and staff.
"You cannot legislate oxygen into an empty cylinder, electricity into a dark operating theatre, or life-saving equipment into an inadequately funded hospital," the statement read.
NARD said doctors across Nigeria work under extremely difficult conditions, struggling to save lives in hospitals plagued by obsolete equipment, inadequate staffing, unreliable electricity, insufficient emergency supplies and deteriorating infrastructure.
"These challenges are not products of professional negligence; they are consequences of longstanding institutional neglect," it said.
The association challenged lawmakers to show the same urgency in ensuring adequate healthcare funding, functional emergency departments, modern diagnostic equipment, uninterrupted electricity, reliable ambulance services and sufficient personnel.
It noted that Nigeria continues to fall short of the 15% health budget allocation commitment under the Abuja Declaration.
In a direct challenge to lawmakers, NARD said if imprisonment was the appropriate response to failures in the health system, the National Assembly should first consider legislation compelling public officeholders to seek medical treatment in Nigerian government hospitals, with sanctions for misuse of public resources on avoidable overseas medical tourism.
"Those entrusted with funding and overseeing our hospitals must demonstrate confidence in the same healthcare system they expect ordinary Nigerians to depend upon," it said.
NARD warned that introducing additional criminal penalties against already overstretched professionals could accelerate the ongoing brain drain, popularly known as Japa syndrome, at a time Nigeria is struggling to retain its skilled medical workforce.
While acknowledging that the bill contains provisions recognising resource limitations, NARD insisted such safeguards must be explicit, comprehensive and enforceable, to ensure doctors are never criminally punished for institutional failures, unavailable equipment, inadequate staffing or circumstances beyond their control.
The association therefore called for the withdrawal and fundamental reconsideration of the punitive provisions, with meaningful consultation involving healthcare professional associations, hospital administrators, patient representatives and other stakeholders.
It also called on the National Assembly to prioritise legislation that guarantees adequate funding, minimum emergency-care infrastructure standards, appropriate staffing, reliable electricity, functional referral systems and effective accountability for institutional failures.
"NARD will not stand idly by while doctors are made scapegoats for decades of neglect of Nigeria's healthcare system," it warned.
"Should the National Assembly proceed to enact legislation that unjustly criminalises doctors for failures beyond their control, NARD will convene its appropriate decision-making organs to consider all lawful options, including nationwide industrial action, while making necessary arrangements to safeguard emergency and critically ill patients."
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