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{
"id": 1014096,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1014096/?format=api",
"text_counter": 223,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Were",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13183,
"legal_name": "Petronila Were Lokorio",
"slug": "petronila-were-lokorio"
},
"content": "This Bill has come at the right time to help the President actualise universal healthcare as one of his legacy items. At the primary healthcare level, we have different hospitals. We have Level 1 hospitals, which are dispensaries, and Level 2 hospitals, which are health centres. However, before we reach these health institutions, there is what we call the household or the community level. This is where this Bill is going to apply and we have no regulator mechanism. This is where the rubber meets the road because that is where the patient comes from. Madam Temporary Speaker, for a long time, we have had community health workers unregulated. The most famous have been the traditional birth attendants that have been our form. When you talk about community health, they are the first point of call; it is the picture that comes to mind. They have operated for many years without any framework. However, with devolution and health being completely devolved, it is necessary that we come up with a law that guides the management of that group of people. Other than just traditional birth attendants, there are several Non-Governmental Organization (NGOs) at the community level that operate and offer household attention to Kenyans. In my county of birth, Busia County, we have an NGO called Rural Education and Poverty Eradication (REPE). As an organization, for many years, it has used community health workers without even a proper name for them. Madam Temporary Speaker, the Director of REPE, Ms. Mary Makokha, has groups of people especially women and young people who are assigned particular households, where we have challenges of nutrition or even HIV/AIDS. They remind those patients when they are supposed to take their drugs and check on the kind of food they are supposed to eat. For a long time, that has not been guided, regulated or funded either by the national Government or, since devolution, the county government. This Bill has come in handy to provide a framework for the delivery of community health services, promote access to healthcare services at the community level and provide capacity building for what we are calling the community health workforce. Madam Temporary Speaker, as I have indicated, when this Bill becomes law, it will apply at the household level, where the actual patient lives. It is going to check also on how these patients live, eat, sleep, get water and how clean the water is. Who checks on that water? That is where all these illnesses come from. These are illnesses that for a long time kill our people, especially children under five years. They are illnesses like diarrhoea that are sanitation-based. When we have this law and the workforce recognised and compensated by the county government as this Bill suggests, then we shall have some order and commitment. It is not just commitment, but also recognition of this workforce. Madam Temporary Speaker, there have been questions on whether they should be called workers or volunteers. This is mainly because county governments do not want to pay them a salary. Once they are called workers, then they begin to enjoy that which comes with somebody being called a worker. They will talk about pension, leave and medical cover. However, it is important that we put aside those kinds of arguments and focus on the key objective of having these healthcare workers recognised, regulated and funded. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}