Nigeria may lift ban on treating gunshot wounds

Nigeria considers bill to criminalize hospital rejection of gunshot wound victims

(AP)  ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) - A Nigerian lawmaker says parliament is considering a bill that will make it a criminal offense for hospitals and medical workers to delay or deny treatment of gunshot wounds.

House of Representatives member Mayor Eze said Thursday that failure to treat a victim in both private and public hospitals could result in at least five years in prison.

Nigerian hospitals now must wait to treat victims of gunshot wounds because of a police directive from the 1980s which says that a police report must be submitted before a victim can be treated, he said.

Gun violence is common in Nigeria.

The bill comes weeks after local newspaper editor Bayo Ohu bled to death after being shot at his house in Lagos, Nigeria's most populous city.