FG ORDERS DOCTORS TO TREAT GUNSHOT VICTIMS INSTANTLY WITHOUT POLICE REPORT OR MONEY

Doctors will be obliged to treat emergency victims,
including those injured by gunshot, without requesting
police clearance or money for the service. This
announcement was made by Isaac Adewole, the minister of
health, at the swearing-in ceremony of 342 foreign trained
medical doctors and six dentistry graduates in Abuja on
Tuesday.
The foreign graduates were successful in the Medical and
Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) assessment held from
April 6 to 8, which enables them to practice in the country.
He said: "Hospitals are sanctuary for the sick and injured,
never must our hospitals be closed for whatever reasons;
even in war time situations, hospital must remain
open. Doctors must show no restraint in treating
emergencies, even with gun-shot wounds you must treat
them, thereafter raise questions. You must also treat
emergencies before asking for money because life is more
precious than money."
On internship programmes and funding
The minister confirmed the lack of adequate places for
internship programmes, however, assured of the
government commitment to fund the programme and
fair distribution.
"The Federal Ministry of Health has strategically identified
and mapped out a number of key activities to ensure that
Nigeria reverses the ills and failures in the healthcare
system. Training of prospective and qualified healthcare
professionals is one of the key agenda of the present
administration.
On receiving your registration certificates and licenses, you
will proceed to your internship training at any of the MDCN
accredited centres. We are not unaware of some of the
challenges some young doctors experienced in securing
placement for internship.
We are working assiduously to ensure that doctors eligible
for internship training will no longer wait endlessly
searching for centres to enrol for their training.
With over hundred MDCN accredited internship centres
among others, the ministry will work with key stakeholders
to ensure effective distribution and financing of the training
programme within the country.
This will ensure that the perennial difficulties in securing
internship programmes by the resident doctors will become
history," Mr Adewole explained.
Recall that last weel The National Youth Service Corp
(NYSC) has reported about their plans to deploy doctors,
nurses and other medical corps members to all the major
Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps across the
country.