The Association of Nigeria Private Medical Practitioners (ANPMP) has called on the National Assembly to reconsider punitive provisions in the proposed National Health Act Amendment Bill 2026.

Its national president, Ernest Chukwuma, warned that imposing fines and possible jail terms on practitioners over emergency care could further undermine the already struggling private healthcare sector.

Mr Chukwuma, in an interview with journalists on Friday, reacted to the bill, which recently scaled second reading at the Senate, and maintained that no doctor should refuse or delay treatment for a patient in an emergency.

“Saving lives remains a fundamental professional and ethical obligation,” he said.

However, he cautioned that legislation must recognise the practical challenges facing healthcare facilities, particularly private hospitals.

Mr Chukwuma specifically questioned the proposed N300,000 penalty for practitioners who refuse to receive emergency patients.

The president argued that doctors should not bear sole responsibility for delays caused by other departments, including diagnostic laboratories and pharmacies, which may sometimes withhold services pending payment.

Mr Chukwuma also clarified that referring patients to better-equipped facilities is not a refusal of care but a necessary medical decision when a hospital lacks the capacity to manage a particular emergency.

He lamented that private hospitals are already grappling with high operating costs, multiple taxation, staff shortages, and expensive medical equipment.

“The private health sector has been sacrificially subsidising the treatment of Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs) patients in this country, and the indigent in society, without being compelled.

”There’s no sincere, clear-cut institutional support for private hospitals,” he said.

The president further warned that patients’ expectations, coupled with increasing cases of assault and physical abuse against healthcare workers and facilities, have made the operating environment more difficult.

According to him, several private practitioners have been forced to shut down due to unfavourable policies and mounting financial pressures.

While insisting that ANPMP is not opposed to regulation, Mr Chukwuma urged lawmakers to adopt a partnership-driven approach rather than rely predominantly on enforcement and punishment.

Among his recommendations, he called for replacing compulsory language in the bill with provisions that encourage doctors to attend to emergency cases.

He also called for structured loans and grants for private hospitals to cushion the cost of unpaid emergency treatment, an end to multiple taxation, and urgent measures to address the shortage and rising cost of medical personnel and equipment.

Mr Chukwuma called for a review of emergency care funding, noting that limiting coverage of the first 48 hours to patients conveyed in NEMSA-accredited ambulances does not reflect reality.

“There’s a government policy that only emergency patients brought in NEMSA-accredited ambulances will have their first 48 hours of treatment covered.

“However, we know that over 90 per cent of emergency patients are not brought in an ambulance. Not to talk of an accredited ambulance, is this not an irony,” he queried.

On proposed legislative consultations, Mr Chukwuma confirmed ANPMP’s readiness to participate in the Senate’s engagement with stakeholders, insisting that private healthcare providers must be given a fair opportunity to present their concerns before the bill is passed into law.

He said their participation would be aimed at protecting patients and ensuring the sustainability of the country’s healthcare system.

The president added that lawmakers must be willing to listen to stakeholders rather than approach the consultations with predetermined positions.

He reiterated that their demands are not an exemption from regulation but a fair partnership that strengthens healthcare delivery while protecting both patients and medical practitioners.

The bill, sponsored by Senator Abdulaziz Musa Yar’Adua, proposes initial assessment and triage within 15 minutes of arrival, basic stabilisation within 30 minutes.

It proposes immediate life-saving interventions where necessary, admission within two hours subject to bed availability and structured referral arrangements, with transfers generally to be completed within three hours.

Its provisions also introduce sanctions for failure to comply with emergency care obligations, with the lawmaker proposing a fine of N300,000, imprisonment not exceeding six months or both, for facilities or persons contravening the proposed emergency treatment provisions.

Section 20 of the existing National Health Act, 2014, already prohibits healthcare providers and facilities from refusing emergency treatment, with a penalty of ₦100,000 or imprisonment of up to six months, or both.

(NAN)