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{
    "id": 1016707,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1016707/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 311,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sakaja",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13131,
        "legal_name": "Johnson Arthur Sakaja",
        "slug": "johnson-arthur-sakaja"
    },
    "content": "on Monday. I hope that Sen. (Arch) Kasanga’s Committee will join the Committee on Health in that Session. There is need for more than 100 doctors who are able to see and deal with issues as they come up. The reason many nurses got infected even in training is that they were overwhelmed and were dealing with anybody and everybody who come in, in an inefficient manner. We need medical officers, pharmacists, pediatricians and obstetricians. Next to Pumwani Maternity Hospital, there is a white elephant project; a 600- capacity that has been there for years. The facility needs to be worked on because it will help ease the pressure on Pumwani and expand healthcare. In Nairobi, we have that one and Mathare North, which is another 400 capacity. Since the time of Dr. Kidero, it has not been completed. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, if we help these facilities, we will reduce the strain in the high traffic areas like Mama Lucy, Mbagathi and Kenyatta National Hospital, stop the spread of COVID-19 and help the people of Nairobi. I would suggest that Pumwani Maternity Hospital be elevated to a National referral hospital because it serves more than three million Nairobians and across counties that are around Nairobi City County. On behalf of the doctors, nurses and all health officers, the issue of National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) reimbursements must be dealt with. The issue of the budgetary allocation, the locum doctors, who are not being paid and the casual workers who clean. A huge part of dealing with COVID-19 is the cleanliness and sanitation, yet these workers have not been paid for more than four months. I hope these issues will also be dealt with when the Committee sits with the Committee on Health Monday. We would like to know the update, not just on the research on the virus, but also on the strides made on the vaccine. I must commend KEMRI that is hailed as one of the leading and foremost medical research institutions in Africa. At the early outset of the virus, KEMRI was exporting the vials and the transfusion transportation equipment that many other countries had run out and could not get from elsewhere. Since we could not get it, they decided to make and manufacture. Our doctors and civil servants do not get enough credit for the kind of work they have been able to do. We want to see better allocations to KEMRI and keep affirming them. If they are listening, we have faith in them. You are the best in the continent. In many respects, you are the best in the world. We need to continue affirming our frontline workers. When I was in first year at the University of Nairobi, I was in Chiromo Campus. We studied with the medics for the first two years. They had real cadavers where they would dissect real bodies. Somebody told me that the reason we have the best doctors who come out from Kenya is that we are the only country that has the capacity to have pathology on real cadavers; real humans not dolls. In other countries, they deal with dolls or they are shown in a computer. In Kenya, from that outset of first year, we have been producing the best medical personnel. However, we do not treat them with respect, dignity and prominence that such professionals deserve. 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."
}