The Nigerian House of Representatives has passed for second reading a bill seeking to empower regulators to suspend or revoke the operating licences of healthcare facilities that refuse or obstruct emergency medical treatment.
The proposed legislation, sponsored by the House spokesperson, Akin Rotimi, seeks to amend the National Health Act 2014 by introducing mandatory timelines for assessing, stabilising and referring patients requiring emergency medical attention.
Section 20 of the existing National Health Act prohibits healthcare providers, health workers and medical facilities from refusing emergency treatment under any circumstances.
The provision prescribes a fine of ₦100,000, imprisonment of up to six months, or both for offenders.
However, despite the existing legal provisions, some healthcare facilities have reportedly continued to turn away emergency patients or direct them to other hospitals.
Leading the debate during Wednesday’s plenary, Rotimi said unnecessary delays, administrative bottlenecks, demands for upfront payments and poorly coordinated referrals continued to cause avoidable complications and loss of lives.
He explained that the proposed amendment would clearly define the responsibilities of healthcare facilities and establish specific timelines for providing emergency care.
Under the proposed legislation, hospitals would be required to commence triage within 15 minutes of a patient’s arrival and provide basic stabilisation within 30 minutes.
Where medical personnel identify a life-threatening condition, they would be required to commence lifesaving treatment immediately.
The bill also provides that hospitals with available beds must assign them to emergency patients within two hours.
Where no bed is available, the facility would be required to stabilise the patient and initiate a referral within two hours of arrival or immediately after clinical stabilisation.
Rotimi said healthcare facilities that refuse, delay or obstruct emergency treatment could face financial penalties, suspension of their operating licences and possible closure or withdrawal of licences for subsequent violations.
He added that health workers who deliberately refuse to treat or abandon emergency patients could face criminal sanctions and professional disciplinary proceedings.
The proposed amendment would also allow affected patients or their families to seek compensation through civil action against healthcare facilities where violations of emergency treatment provisions result in injury, disability or death.
Additionally, the bill seeks to define key terms, including emergency patient, stabilisation, referral and triage, to ensure consistent application of the proposed regulations across healthcare facilities.
Speaking further, Rotimi said the legislation was designed to prevent Nigerians from losing their loved ones due to avoidable delays and negligence in emergency medical care.
“No family should lose a loved one because treatment was unnecessarily delayed, a referral was poorly coordinated, or a healthcare facility failed to discharge its responsibility,” he said.
He maintained that the proposed amendment would make the right to emergency medical treatment enforceable by clearly defining the obligations of healthcare providers from the moment an emergency patient arrives at their facility.
The bill has passed its second reading and will proceed through the remaining legislative stages before it can become law.
