Court Orders DSS To Grant Kanu Access To Doctor Of Choice

AFederal High Court in Abuja yesterday ordered the Department of State Services (DSS) to grant the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, access to his medical records.

In a judgment, Justice Binta Nyako held that the objections of the DSS to Kanu’s request were unmeritorious.

Justice Nyako also held that Kanu was constitutionally entitled to have access to both the records he requested for and medical doctors of his choice.

The judge directed that the independent medical examination of Kanu by his personal physicians should be supervised by the DSS with the entire process recorded and sealed for security purpose.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Kanu, through his team of lawyers, led by Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), had filed the suit against the DSS and its Director General as the first and second respondents.

In the suit, the IPOB leader prayed the court for an order granting him leave to “apply for judicial review in the form of an order of mandamus, compelling the respondents to allow the applicant unhindered access to his medical doctors to enable them conduct an independent examination of his present deteriorating health condition”.

He also sought “…an order of this honourable court granting leave to the applicant to apply for judicial review in the form of an order of mandamus, compelling the respondents to avail the applicant with all his medical records, from June 29, 2021, till date”.

Kanu listed some of the records he would require from the DSS to include: his admission records, medical and clinical notes, nursing notes, observation charts and documentation during treatment or stay-in-hospital, laboratory test results, pharmaceutical records, radiological scans, images and reports, blood transfusion records, physiotherapy and rehabilitative treatment records, clinical findings, as well as diagnosis and treatment prescribed records.