Dr Muhammad Alkali, the Chief Medical Director, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Teaching Hospital (ATBU-TH) has urged the Federal Government to create a budget line for research in health and educational institutions in the country.
Alkali made the call while addressing newsmen in Bauchi on Thursday during the Maiden Annual Research Day and Conference organised by the hospital.
Alkali explained that the hospital has three mandates – training, service and research.
He, however, added that “one sad thing is that in spite of the fact that research is a mandate of this hospital, there is no funding for it.
“Whatever is being supported is what the management of the hospital is doing and we all know for one to conduct credible research, the funding is beyond the hospital.
“Government should create a specific budget line for research because without research, institutions, especially education and health, might go into extinction.”
The CMD said that with research, both health workers and academia could find out how things were done and know more about diseases.
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He said that this would enable the workers to manage their patients better and impart knowledge to those they want to teach or train.
Alkali said that the maiden annual research day and the scientific conference would help the hospital to create awareness on the mandates of the hospital.
“This annual research day would provide a platform to create awareness about the important mandates of the hospital.
“It would also serve as an avenue to disseminate what researches are being done within the hospital and in the national and international scientific community, as well as serve as a form of interaction where we can network and move science to the next stage.”