Kano State Police Command has warned members of the public against hostile actions towards medical personnel discharging their duties in the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Commissioner of Police, Hussaini Gumel, gave a warning, yesterday, while receiving the state Chairman of Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Dr Abdullahi Sulaiman, in his office.

However, the Community Initiative to Promote Peace (CIPP), in conjunction with Mercy Corps, yesterday, organised a novelty football match to promote peaceful coexistence among youths in Nasarawa Local Council of the state.

Gumel said: “We will not hesitate to arrest and prosecute any person or group of people attacking medical personnel in the course of discharging their primary assignments.”

The CP thanked the doctors for the visit and assured them of his continued support in protecting lives and property, as well as ensuring law and order in hospitals across the state, adding: “The NMA is a crucial police partner and a professional association, which, if there is a problem in that sector, nobody will be at peace.”

He sympathised with the NMA over cases of assault on their members and assured of the command’s readiness to ensure their safety and create a safer working environment for healthcare practitioners in the state.

Earlier, Suleiman commended the CP for his timely intervention in saving doctors from assault by “irrational relatives of patients on more than two occasions in recent times.”

The doctors hailed Gumel for applying “democratic policing” in crime fighting.

“This visit was prompted by the recent incidents within a couple of two weeks at Murtala Muhammed Specialist Hospital, Kano, and Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, where a medical doctor was assaulted by patients’ relatives.

ACTING Chief of Party for CIPP, Sani Suleiman, said the essence of the novelty match was to bring young people together through sports to promote peaceful coexistence.

The novelty match in Kano was themed ‘Promoting peace and unity through sports’.

According to Suleiman, sports tendto bring people together irrespective of their differences.

He said youths from Gwagwarwa, Tudun Wada under Nasarawa Local Council, came together to identify other issues that affect their communities, such as drug abuse, lack of education and unemployment.

“They can form a network and be advocates for government and the private sector, to address the issues properly.

“We are working with Kano State House of Assembly to enact a law that pertains to issues of drug abuse and social vices,” he said.

An official of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Kano State Command, Haruna Kasim, who advised youths to desist from drug abuse, cautioned that the use of drugs without a doctor’s prescription is abuse.

On his part, the Dagachin Gwagwarwa, Usman Aliyu, thanked Mercy Corps and CIPP for organising the programme, saying it would go a long way in moving every community forward.
NAN reports that Mercy Corps established conflict mitigation centres in Benue, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Kogi and Plateau states.

The project focuses on building the capacity of community stakeholders, including youths, women, and traditional leaders through dialogue and societal cohesion for peace and development.