Reps urge teaching hospitals to prioritise research beyond Covid 19 emergencies

The House of Representatives Committee on Health Institutions has called on tertiary health institutions, especially university teaching hospitals, to refocus on medical research, warning that the sector should not wait for public health emergencies to spur scientific inquiry.

The call was made on Tuesday during the 2026 budget defence session of federal university teaching hospitals, federal teaching hospitals and federal medical centres.

The committee chairperson, Patrick Umoh (APC, Akwa Ibom), said teaching hospitals had drifted from their statutory role as research centres and were increasingly operating like general hospitals.

Mr Umoh faulted chief medical directors for devoting less than one per cent of their annual budgets to research, noting that research funding rarely features prominently in their budget submissions.

“Teaching hospitals are supposed to be centres of research,” he said. “You have never raised the issue of lack of funding for research, but you talk more about infrastructure. That makes you part of the problem.”

He recalled that the COVID-19 pandemic exposed weaknesses in the country’s health research capacity, adding that none of the teaching hospitals visited by the committee during oversight engagements had showcased functional research facilities.

“No hospital has taken me to a facility centre and said, ‘this is our research centre,” he said.

Responding on behalf of the Committee of Chief Medical Directors, its secretary, Pokop Bupwatda, said research funding in teaching hospitals remains severely limited.

Mr Bupwatda, who is the chief medical director of the Jos University Teaching Hospital, explained that although about one per cent of hospital budgets is usually earmarked for research, the provision is often removed during the budgeting process.

He appealed for increased funding for the health sector to enable the recruitment of qualified personnel and improved staff welfare, which he said would help address the growing exodus of medical professionals from the country.

The issue, widely referred to as the “japa syndrome,” has continued to deplete Nigeria’s health workforce, with doctors, nurses and other skilled professionals leaving for better pay, working conditions and career prospects abroad.

Industry stakeholders have repeatedly warned that poor remuneration, heavy workloads, inadequate facilities and delayed promotions are fuelling the trend, leaving public hospitals overstretched.

Health experts have also cautioned that unless sustained investment is made in manpower development and staff welfare, the continued outflow of medical professionals could further weaken service delivery in federal tertiary health institutions and undermine efforts to strengthen healthcare outcomes nationwide.

Speaking further on the issue, Mr Bupwatda said many federal hospitals are critically understaffed, particularly with medical doctors, and even when recruitment approvals are granted, there is often little interest from applicants. Despite this, he said existing staff continue to deliver quality healthcare services.

He also criticised what he described as an overemphasis on isolated failures within the health sector, arguing that such narratives overlook progress that has attracted foreign patients to Nigeria’s medical facilities.

Mr Bupwatda further disclosed that “only about 30 per cent of the 2025 budget allocation to federal tertiary health institutions had been released,” despite efforts by the House to improve funding for the sector.

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He identified power supply as another major challenge, noting that hospitals spend substantial amounts on electricity under the Band A tariff regime, in addition to the cost of running generators to ensure uninterrupted services.

While welcoming plans to provide solar mini-grids for teaching hospitals and federal medical centres, he described the initiative as a step in the right direction.

He also urged the committee to consider providing take-off grants for about seven newly established federal health institutions to enable them to begin full operations.