Follow Us on Google
From Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja
Public health activist Adanma Odefu Wachuku has urged Nigerians to report any form of medical negligence to relivent authority.
Odefa-Wachuku made this call yesterday in Abuja while speaking to newsmen.
Following the conviction of Dr Ejike Orji for criminal negligence by Lagos State Criminal Justice System. The health activist said accolades must be showered upon the state for setting this novel precedence.
Odefa-Wachuku lamented that medical negligence has been on an increase in the country due to lack of consequences for offenders.
She stressed that the recent case has proven the readiness of regulatory body for doctor and justice system to grant justice for victims of medical negligence.
She commended the Lagos state government for ensuring that Dr Ejike Ferdinand Orji becomes the first Convicted medical doctor in Nigeria for Medical Negligence.
According to her, the conviction of Orji for criminal negligence arising from his reckless and dangerous practice of medicine is arguably the first time a registered medical practitioner would be so convicted in Nigeria.
“It hopefully opens the floodgate for many more successful prosecutions of reckless and negligent doctors who had hitherto carried on with impunity.
“The Laws of the Federation of Nigeria have had the Criminal Code Act since 1916 and the Penal Code Act since 1960.
“Nigeria’s socio-political history has advanced significantly from what it was in the colonial and early post-independence days and Nigeria is now a federation of 36 states and a federal capital territory.
“In pursuance of the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, the state houses of assembly have passed versions of the Criminal Code Act or Penal Code Act as state laws.
“Very prominent among these is the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015.’’
Odefa-Wachuku appealed to other states to borrow a leaf from Lagos and stand in the gap for hapless patients who suffered untold physical pain and mental trauma as a result of reckless negligence in the hands of healthcare practitioners.
