Nigeria, Feb. 10 -- 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 ...