In Ikeja High Court has ordered government hospitals in Lagos State to stop demanding compulsory blood donations from women seeking antenatal and maternity services.
Justice Raliat Adebiyi, in the judgement delivered yesterday, also restrained government hospitals in Lagos from demanding blood donations from spouses and other relations of pregnant women seeking antenatal and maternity services.
The judgement, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), was delivered following a fundamental human rights suit filed by the trustees of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).
The respondents to the suit are the Attorney-General of Lagos State, the state Ministry of Health and the Commissioner for Health.
“The respondents’ contributions to child and maternal deaths stand to reason; though no data on the child and maternal mortalities recorded as a result of the policy was provided to the court.
“A policy that will deny citizens the right to medical care based on failure to donate blood is not only unconstitutional but unconscionable and adverse to the life and wellbeing of all citizens that access the respondent’s facilities,” Adebiyi said.
The judge declared that the actions of the respondents in demanding compulsory blood donation from those seeking maternity services as “arbitrary, unfair and a violation of their human rights as enshrined in Section 38(1) of the 1999 Constitution”.
She said that the actions of the hospitals and facilities were violations of and a denial of the rights of the residents of Lagos to a system of health protection.
According to her, the health system is expected to provide equality of opportunity as guaranteed under Articles 2 (a), 3 and 12 (1) of the International Convention on Economic Social and Cultural Rights.
Adebiyi also declared that the actions of the Lagos State government hospitals and health facilities were a denial of the right to life as guaranteed under Section 33 of the 1999 Constitution.
She said: “The respondents are hereby ordered to forthwith immediately stop and discontinue the policy of insisting on compulsory blood donations from patients or relatives of those seeking medical care and attention before accessing ante natal, maternal or any health services in the facilities of the respondents.”
During yesterday’s proceedings, SERAP (the claimant) was represented by Mr. Oluwadare Kolawole, while the respondents were represented by Mrs. Adebukola Iyilade.
SERAP, in its grounds for seeking reliefs, said that it had received complaints from residents of Lagos about the compulsory blood donation policy of government hospitals.
It said: “The respondent’s medical facilities have consistently denied access to their medical facilities to anyone who declined to be a part of any blood donation as a result of their religious tenets, cultural leanings, their thoughts, etc.
“Notable among these is the Ifako Hospital in Ifako-Ijaiye and the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), which have rigidly maintained this policy.” Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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