Reps Berate Medical Directors For 1% Budgetary Allocation To Research

The House of Representatives has berated the Chief Medical Directors (CMDs) of tertiary health institutions for allocating less than one per cent of their budgets to research.

The chairman, House Committee on Health Institutions, Dr Patrick Umoh gave this indication during the budget defence session with Federal University Teaching Hospitals and Federal Medical Centres.

The lawmaker said the heads of the tertiary health institutions have failed to consistently raise the issue of research funding during budget preparations.

Umoh expressed displeasure that teaching hospitals have largely abandoned their core mandate of research and rather assumed the roles of general hospitals.

He urged tertiary health institutions across the country, particularly university teaching hospitals to prioritise medical research rather than waiting for emergency situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic to drive action.

“Teaching hospitals are supposed to be centres of research. 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.

“The COVID-19 pandemic caught us all unprepared. Let me mock you a little by saying that traditional medicine practitioners appeared to be doing better. You are not doing research. I have gone on several oversight visits, but no hospital has taken me to a facility and said, ‘this is our research centre,” Umoh said.

Secretary, Committee of Chief Medical Directors and Chief Medical Director of the Jos University Teaching Hospital, Prof. Pokop Bupwatda had told the lawmakers that only about 1% of teaching hospitals’ budgets is earmarked for research.

Bupwatda who spoke for the Committee of CMDs stated that the research budget line is often removed during the budgeting process.

He called for increased funding for the health sector to enable adequate recruitment of qualified manpower and improved staff welfare, as part of efforts to curb the ongoing “japa syndrome.”

Bupwatda said many federal hospitals are critically understaffed, particularly with medical doctors, and even when approval is granted to recruit, few doctors apply, adding that despite these challenges, existing personnel have continued to deliver quality healthcare services and deserve commendation.

He expressed concern that public discourse often focuses on isolated shortcomings in the sector, rather than the progress made, which he said has attracted foreigners to Nigeria’s health sector.

According to Bupwatda, the sector is grappling with multiple challenges that have affected its operations, including the release of only about 30 per cent of the 2025 budget to federal tertiary health institutions, despite efforts by the House of Representatives to improve budgetary allocations.

He also identified power supply as a major challenge, noting that hospitals spend huge sums on electricity bills due to the need for constant power to operate critical equipment and provide patient care.

Bupwatda explained that federal hospitals currently operate under Band A electricity tariffs, placing additional financial strain on them, alongside the cost of running generators.

He welcomed the proposal to provide solar mini-grids for teaching hospitals and federal medical centres, describing it as a positive development.

Bupwatda appealed to the lawmakers to provide take-off grants for about seven newly established federal health institutions to enable them to effectively commence operations.