Nigerian Air Force Responds To Alleged Refusal Of Treatment Of Accident Victims At Their Hospital

Nigerian Air Force Responds To Alleged Refusal Of Treatment Of Accident Victims At Their Hospital

The attention of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has been drawn to trending posts on Twitter alleging that 2 accident victims rushed to the 563 NAF Hospital (563 NAFH – formerly 347 NAFH) Jos on 20 October 2019 were allegedly refused emergency medical care purportedly because of the absence of a Police report. While we sympathize with the friends and loved ones of the victims on their unfortunate loss, the NAF wishes to state categorically that the facts presented in the report were inaccurate.

For the avoidance of doubt, the public is kindly informed that the 2 patients were indeed rushed to the 563 NAF Hospital as reported. However, they were brought in by personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corp (NSCDC). Hence, the issue of requesting for a Police report never arose. Besides, in keeping with the hippocratic oath, all NAF Hospitals have a standing instruction to stabilize and, where possible, treat all accident victims without asking for payment or Police report.

In this particular case, information at our disposal indicates that one of the victims was brought in dead, while the other victim had evidence of severe head injury, which the Hospital did not have the capacity to handle. Accordingly, the immediate caregivers were promptly advised to move the surviving victim to the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) or the Plateau State Specialist Hospital for further treatment. At no time throughout their stay at the Hospital was any Police report demanded.

The NAF, as a highly disciplined and professional force, has standard procedures in dealing with such cases. A Police report is seldom required as the NAF Air Provost are empowered to handle such cases within NAF Bases and liaise with the Nigeria Police Force, where required.

The NAF once more sympathizes with the families of the victims. However, we wish to advise the public to please discountenance the portion of the Tweet thread that referred to a demand for Police report as a prerequisite for treatment, as it is a gross misrepresentation of the facts.