Federal Government has been urged to put in place legislation that will criminalize euthanasia (assisted suicide ) in the country.
A Professor of Law, University of Ilorin, Bashiru Omipidan made the call in the 225th inaugural lecture delivered at the institution’s Main auditorium in Ilorin, Kwara state.
According to him, legalizing euthanasia will increase the demand for organs of innocent patients who are terminally ill but not yet dead.
Professor Omipidan urged government to equip hospital and clinics with modern equipments to assist those in need.
He appealed to the medical association to train an retrain members on effective pain management to enable them give appropriate advice to terminally ill person.
Professor Omipidan called for the tightening of the nation’s criminal code laws by providing sections that will handle euthanasia (assisted suicide ) in line with the code of ethics of medical practitioners.
He advocated for the establishment of an anti -suicide and paliative care center at the nation’s institutions of higher learning to assist students who might be contemplating suicide.
The University Don, urged the media to be more objective in reporting controversial issues such as euthanasia .
He maintained that more scholars should be encouraged to venture into further research on euthanasia to increase resource persons to tackle new challenges posed by the concepts.
ALI MUHAMMAD RABIU
