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{
    "id": 1021623,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1021623/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 199,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Endebess, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Robert Pukose",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1458,
        "legal_name": "Robert Pukose",
        "slug": "robert-pukose"
    },
    "content": "It goes further to provide that if a patient is referred outside the country, then you must have a protocol in which you are able to communicate with the Kenyan embassy in the country you are referring the patient to. That means that the embassy in that country is able to know the hospitals that have the necessary skills and facilities for which a patient is referred to. When I look at the healthcare as a healthcare provider - I am a General Surgeon by profession - Kenyatta National Hospital has all the necessary skills in the country. We can say that we have the skills we require. All the best professors and best doctors are there. But what limits is mostly equipment and space for which some practices can be done. If somebody were to get a good service, we need to debunk our minds. The Kenyatta National Hospital apparently is supposed to be a referral hospital. People should not go there when they have a cough. You should go to Kenyatta National Hospital with a referral letter giving the reason why you are being referred there. If we had a good referral system in Nairobi and the country, then Kenyatta National Hospital should be able to perform its supposed role. We have other Level 6 hospitals like the Nakuru Provincial General Hospital, the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, the Coast Provincial General Hospital and the Embu General Hospital. We should put those facilities into their proper use with a good referral system. This is a good amendment Bill that needs the Cabinet Secretary to look at. It also provides that the Cabinet Secretary shall consult with the NHIF and the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board to make sure that a patient is referred to where there are necessary skills. One of the biggest challenges we face in the medical profession is that of relatives. They may have heard of myths and other stories that a certain case could be attended to better in India or in other places. They may have that feeling. You know life is not something you take for granted. There is no second chance. It is only lived once. So, if it is not handled well and lost, there are no other means of resuscitating it. That is why you find relatives thinking that there may be a better way even when they have been advised. They may be told that the patient is a case of advanced cancer like stage three and that there is nothing that can be done apart from palliative care to relieve the pain for the time being, but the relatives will say that they want their patient to be taken to India. So, these are some of the things you have to take into account. You have to balance between the relatives’ expectations and capability. It is good that the amendment Bill has a provision, so that at that end of the day, somebody takes the options. Even when a patient is taken to a hospital, he must be counselled. Counselling is given so that the patient can make a decision. There are no hard facts about medicine like that this is the only thing that must be done. Issues of cartels referring patients is neither here nor there. But let us have a good working system in the country. In the past when some of us were training in the medical school, we used to get patients brought from as far as Namibia for open heart surgery. Others came from Zaire and other places to Kenya for medical tourism. The Cabinet Secretary and Government should put in place a good working healthcare system that can support our general population. With those remarks, I support."
}