Reps move to end emergency treatment delays, pass National Health Act amendment bill

The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed through second reading a bill seeking to amend the National Health Act, 2014, to eliminate operational delays in emergency medical care and establish mandatory triage, stabilization, and referral protocols across all healthcare institutions in the country.

Leading the debate on the general principles of the bill, the Chairman of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Rep. Akin Rotimi, declared that access to immediate medical care is a fundamental right that must not be subject to financial or bureaucratic hurdles.

“No Nigerian should have to negotiate for survival at the point of a medical emergency. 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,” Rotimi said.

He emphasized the urgent need for a binding statutory framework that guarantees rapid emergency interventions through clear response timelines, periodic mandatory professional training, and enforceable institutional penalties.

“In a medical emergency, time is the difference between life and death. Yet, Nigerians continue to lose their lives or suffer preventable complications because of delays arising from administrative bottlenecks, demands for payment before treatment, unavailable hospital beds, and poorly coordinated referrals,” the lawmaker noted.

Rotimi argued that while the National Health Act of 2014 expressly prohibits healthcare providers from denying patients emergency medical attention, practical realities underscore the need for actionable operational benchmarks.

“The right to emergency treatment must translate into timely assessment, immediate life-saving intervention, stabilisation, and effective referral where necessary. This bill seeks to bridge that gap by making emergency medical responses more structured, measurable, and accountable,” he said.

Outlining the core provisions of the proposed legislation, Rotimi explained that the amendment rests on five cardinal interventions:

First, it reinforces the absolute prohibition against denying emergency care under any circumstances.

Second, it mandates compulsory continuous emergency care training and re-certification for healthcare professionals at intervals not exceeding 18 months, directing the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) and the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) to jointly formulate a uniform national emergency curriculum.

Third, it introduces strict operational timelines: medical facilities must commence clinical triage within 15 minutes of an emergency patient’s arrival, initiate basic stabilization within 30 minutes, and deploy life-saving resuscitation immediately once life-threatening indicators are identified. Where physicians are unavailable, certified emergency nurses are authorized to conduct immediate triage.

Fourth, the bill streamlines admission and inter-hospital transfers. Where bed space exists, a bed must be allocated to the emergency patient within two hours. If at full capacity, the facility must begin medical stabilization, trigger formal referral procedures within two hours of arrival, arrange transit logistics within 30 minutes of the transfer decision, and complete patient transfer within three hours, barring force majeure.

Fifth, the amendment balances professional safeguards with institutional accountability. Medical personnel acting in good faith, maintaining proper records of facility constraints, and following statutory referral steps are shielded from legal liabilities. Conversely, health facilities that refuse, delay, or obstruct emergency treatment risk heavy financial penalties, license suspensions, and permanent closure. Medical workers guilty of willful negligence or abandonment of emergency cases face criminal charges and regulatory disciplinary sanctions.

The bill also creates a statutory civil remedy allowing victims or their surviving families to claim compensation from defaulting hospitals where wrongful denial or delay leads to injury, physical impairment, or death.

Following widespread bipartisan support during plenary, Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, who presided over the session, referred the bill to the House Committee on Healthcare Services for further legislative work.