By Fatima Saka
The Nigerian Senate on Tuesday led deliberations on a critical healthcare reform as it considered the Bill for an Act to Amend the University Teaching Hospitals (Reconstitution of Boards, etc.) Act, 2025 (SB. 908), aimed at granting legal backing to the Federal University of Health Sciences Otukpo Teaching Hospital.
Presenting the bill for second reading, the sponsor, a Minority Leader, Senator Abha Patrick Moro (Benue South) noted that it was first read on 8 October 2025, emphasising that its “one and sole purpose” is to amend the existing Act to formally include the Federal University of Health Sciences Otukpo Teaching Hospital, which is already operational but lacks statutory recognition.
He stressed that Section 10 of the National Health Act 2014 clearly mandates that a teaching hospital can only exist through an Act of the National Assembly, adding that the absence of such legal backing hampers the hospital’s full functionality and legitimacy.
“The Federal University of Health Sciences Otukpo is a premier institution dedicated to training highly skilled medical practitioners. Without an Act of the National Assembly, a teaching hospital does not have the legal standing to operate. This amendment is therefore necessary,” Senator Moro said as he urged lawmakers to support the bill.
Supporting the motion, Senator Victor Umeh underscored the indispensability of teaching hospitals to medical education, arguing that no university with a medical college can function effectively without a teaching hospital.
“It is in the teaching hospital that students are groomed through clinical studies to become properly trained medical doctors. Any university offering medicine without a teaching hospital is not fit to function as a medical college,” Umeh stated, adding that the Otukpo institution must have a teaching hospital to anchor clinical training.
Several senators expressed agreement, noting that the amendment is timely and essential for strengthening Nigeria’s health workforce development.
The bill, titled A Bill for an Act to Amend the University Teaching Hospitals (Reconstitution of Boards, etc.) Act and for Related Matters, 2025, was subsequently read for the second time and forwarded for Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND further legislative action.
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