The Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has ordered police formations across Nigeria to enforce the Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshot Act 2017.
The new directive is in response to the raging concern over the rising loss of lives due to the refusal of health facilities to provide treatment to gunshots and accident victims without a police report.
It is also in reaction to a letter addressed to Mr Egbetokun and personally signed by the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Olatunji Alausa, seeking the support of the police in the enforcement of the law.
Mr Egbetokun gave the directive on 25 October in an internal memo signed by its principal staff officer, Olatunji Disu, and addressed to all the hierarchies of police leadership in the country.
The memo, referenced: CB:3383/IGP.SEC/ABJ/VOL.60/336, urged the police formations to circulate the directives widely “for the public to be aware of our compliance with the national law.”
The letter reads in part: “I forward herewith a copy of letter HMSH&SW/IG/CTCV/10/2023/ dated 3rd October 2023 received from Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare on the above-underlined subject, and write to convey the directive of the Inspector General of Police that you comply with and enforce the provisions of the Compulsory Treatment and Care for Victims of Gunshot Act 2017 without any hesitation.”
The memo further instructed the police leaders to make the content of the memo a “subject of lecture” across their formations and commands.
The Gunshot Act 2017 signed into law by former President Muhammadu Buhari, mandates all medical facilities to receive and accept victims of gunshots for immediate treatment without a police report.