Doctors cry out: Police arrest us while treating patients

•Stage a protest in Lagos

By Chioma Obinna

Medical doctors under the aegis of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, Lagos State chapter, and the Association of Nigerian Private Medical Practitioners, ANPMP, yesterday, in Lagos, staged a rare joint protest, decrying what they described as “persistent harassment, intimidation and unlawful arrests” by government agencies, particularly the police.

The protesting doctors, who marched from Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), to Police Command in Ikeja, carried placards with various inscriptions.

Addressing journalists during the rally tagged: “Protest Against Harassment of Doctors,” Chairman of ANPMP, Dr Jonathan Esegine, said the demonstration was both historic and necessary to avert a looming collapse in healthcare delivery.

His words: “This is a gathering of historical importance because, in recent times, this has not happened. Like the African proverb says, the rabbit does not run in the daytime unless something is pursuing it. Something is pursuing us.”

Esegine warned that the increasing harassment of doctors poses a “potent danger” not only to the medical profession but to society at large.

According to him, doctors are being “hounded at will, abducted from their practices, harassed, intimidated, maltreated and imprisoned without just cause,” alleging that the police, particularly the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Lagos, are the worst offenders.

prosecutor,“They label doctors with offences without charges or trial. They act as accuser, prosecutor and judge at the same time,” he said.

He noted that some doctors have been forcibly taken from hospitals while attending to patients, leading to disruption of critical services and endangering lives.

“There have been instances where doctors are whisked away from patients and detained for days. While that happens, services are shut down, and patients are denied care,” he added.

Esegie warned that the trend is pushing doctors into “defensive medicine,” where fear of arrest discourages them from taking life-saving decisions.

“When faced with emergencies, a doctor may begin to hesitate, asking: ‘If this goes wrong, will I be arrested and labelled a murderer?’ That is dangerous for society,” he said.

He stressed that doctors are not infallible, noting that even under the best care, death can occur.

“We are not God. We can only care, only God guarantees life. Patients die everywhere in the world, even under the best medical care,” he said.

The ANPMP chairman insisted that only the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria has the legal authority to investigate cases of alleged medical negligence, not the police.

Also speaking, Lagos State NMA Chairman, Dr Babajide Saheed, condemned what he described as “multi-agency harassment” of doctors, including actions by security agencies and trial by social media.

“We are not happy. Doctors are being harassed by the police and other agencies, and even vilified on social media without proper investigation,” he said.

He urged journalists to uphold professional ethics by verifying facts before publishing reports on alleged medical negligence.

The protest was triggered by the recent detention of a doctor and a nurse in Lekki following the death of two critically ill children suffering from severe gastroenteritis.

Esegie explained that the victims were brought in “severely dehydrated and septic,” and despite medical efforts, both children died.

“Instead of due process, the doctor and nurse were detained for about a week. That is what jolted us into action,” he said.

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