Reps tackle chief medical directors for allocating below 1% to research amid disease outbreaks

The House of Representatives on Tuesday criticised chief medical directors (CMDs) of Nigeria’s teaching hospitals over their failure to prioritise research, noting that less than one percent of their budgets is dedicated to medical studies even as disease outbreaks continue to strain the health system.

Speaking on Tuesday during the budget defence session of Federal University Teaching Hospitals, Federal Teaching Hospitals and Federal Medical Centres, Patrick Umoh, chairman of the House Committee on Health Institutions, lamented that teaching hospitals have largely abandoned their core mandate of research and have instead assumed the roles of general hospitals.

Umoh, criticised CMDs for consistently failing to consistently raise the issue of research funding during budget preparations.

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According to him, “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”, he said.

The chairman urged CMDs particularly university teaching hospitals, to prioritise medical research rather than waiting for emergency situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic to drive action.

“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”, he said.

Responding on behalf of the Committee of chief medical directors, Pokop Bupwatda, secretary of the committee and Chief Medical Director of the Jos University Teaching Hospital, explained that the research budget line is often removed during the budgeting process.

Bupwatda, however 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.”

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