Hospitals that turn away emergency patients could face ₦300,000 fine and six months in jail under Senate bill

• The Senate is considering tougher penalties for hospitals that reject emergency patients.

• The proposed bill sets a 15-minute deadline for beginning patient triage.

• Hospitals could face a ₦300,000 fine, six months in jail, or both.

The Senate is considering a bill that would impose up to six months in jail, a fine of up to ₦300,000, or both on hospitals and healthcare workers who violate proposed emergency treatment standards.

The bill, sponsored by Senator Abdulaziz Musa Yar'Adua (APC, Katsina Central), seeks to amend the National Health Act, 2014, to provide emergency medical treatment standards and referral protocols. The Senate passed it for second reading on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, and referred it to the Committee on Health, which has four weeks to report back. It is not yet law, and it must still go through public hearing and further stages.

Under the bill, public and private hospitals would be barred from refusing emergency treatment for any reason. They would have to begin triage within 15 minutes of arrival, start stabilising patients within 30 minutes and begin life-saving interventions immediately once a life-threatening condition is identified.

Patients who need admission would be assigned a bed within two hours, subject to availability. Where no bed is free, the hospital must stabilise the patient and begin referral arrangements, including ambulance dispatch within 30 minutes of the decision to refer.

The bill also requires the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria and the Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria to jointly develop a national emergency care curriculum, with health workers trained and certified at least once every 18 months.

Yar'Adua said it would address gaps in the healthcare system and cut preventable deaths from delays, citing Nigeria's roughly 10 per cent share of global maternal deaths. 

He said it aligns with emergency care frameworks in Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, the United Kingdom and the United States, and he criticised hospitals that demand police reports before treating emergency patients. The Senate Whip, Mohammed Monguno, said some providers neglect emergency patients, with fatal results.

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Section 20 of the National Health Act already bars hospitals from refusing emergency treatment. The existing penalty is a ₦100,000 fine, up to six months in prison, or both.

Yar'Adua acknowledged that many hospitals lack enough doctors, oxygen cylinders and essential emergency equipment, which could make the proposed timelines hard to meet. 

He said Nigeria's healthcare challenges need a broader review of the National Health Act, not mainly punishment. The bill is expected to balance accountability for hospitals that wilfully neglect patients with safeguards for workers acting in good faith under documented resource constraints.

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Separately, the House of Representatives has advanced another bill that would let authorities suspend or withdraw the licences of facilities that refuse or obstruct emergency treatment.