The House of Representatives has launched a scathing attack on federal teaching hospitals, accusing them of abandoning their core research mandate to function as "glorified general hospitals" despite rising public health threats.

This legislative rebuke, delivered during the 2026 budget defence in Abuja, exposes a systemic rot where less than one percent of hospital budgets is allocated to scientific inquiry. The House Committee on Health Institutions warns that this negligence leaves Nigeria dangerously unprepared for the next pandemic, prioritizing brick-and-mortar expansion over the intellectual capital needed to save lives.

Research Funds Diverted for Infrastructure

The confrontation at the National Assembly revealed a disturbing trend among Chief Medical Directors (CMDs). Committee Chairperson Patrick Umoh (APC, Akwa Ibom) did not mince words, accusing the hospital heads of systematically sidelining research in favor of infrastructure projects that offer more tangible—but less transformative—visibility. "Teaching hospitals are supposed to be centres of research," Umoh declared, visibly agitated by the presentations. "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 lawmakers argued that the distinction between a "teaching hospital" and a "general hospital" lies precisely in the capacity to generate new medical knowledge. By neglecting this duty, these tertiary institutions are effectively downgrading their own status while consuming federal resources meant for specialized advancement. The committee noted that during oversight visits, not a single hospital could showcase a fully functional, world-class research facility, a failure Umoh termed "indefensible" in the post-COVID era.

The "One Percent" Crisis

The statistics presented were damning. An analysis of the budget proposals showed that for most institutions, research allocation was a mere footnote—often falling below the one percent threshold. This stands in stark contrast to global standards where leading teaching hospitals dedicate significant double-digit percentages of their expenditure to R&D.

• Systemic Erasure: Dr. Pokop Bupwatda, Secretary of the Committee of Chief Medical Directors, admitted the deficit but shifted the blame to the budget office. He claimed that while hospitals propose research funding, it is "often removed during the budgeting process."
• The COVID-19 Amnesia: The committee highlighted that the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, which exposed Nigeria's reliance on foreign scientific solutions, have seemingly been forgotten by the very administrators tasked with preventing a recurrence.
• Brain Drain Catalyst: Experts warn that the lack of research funding is a primary driver of the "Japa" syndrome, forcing Nigeria's brightest medical minds to migrate to Western institutions where their scientific curiosity is funded, not frustrated.

A Mandate for Immediate Reform

The House has now drawn a line in the sand. The committee has directed all teaching hospitals to revise their priorities before the final budget approval. The message is clear: infrastructure is necessary, but without the software of research, the hardware of hospital buildings is merely a shell. "We will not approve a budget that continues this trajectory of ignorance," Umoh concluded. "If you cannot research, you cannot teach, and you certainly cannot lead."

As the session closed, the burden now shifts to the CMDs to prove they can be more than just hospital administrators, but true custodians of the nation's medical future. The era of excuses, it seems, has officially ended.