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{
    "id": 1021649,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1021649/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 225,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mogotio, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Daniel Tuitoek",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13434,
        "legal_name": "Daniel Kamuren Tuitoek",
        "slug": "daniel-kamuren-tuitoek"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to also say I rise to support this amendment Bill and thank Dr. Mishra for bringing it at the right time. The issues that we are facing in the medical sector, especially in terms of services to our citizens, include challenges in terms of accessing quality healthcare. Dr. Pukose talked about the stages in which we sometimes find ourselves in when we are faced with difficult diseases like cancer and other challenging diseases which require advanced medical care. What I have seen is that most of our medical facilities are not up to standard. I think this is an area in which we should learn a lot from India. I think Dr. Mishra, when he brought up this Bill, should have really had an idea that we want to improve the quality of our health facilities in terms of acquiring the best diagnostic equipment as possible and attracting the best personnel in terms of medical specialization in different areas. I think by saying we want to limit these referrals outside the country, especially to countries like India, it is so that we can also improve our own medical facilities. We must improve the services of our doctors so that they can provide health care at high standards. We must also improve our facilities. As at now, specialized equipment like scanners and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) being used to address specialized challenges in the health sector are not available in many facilities. Since we have devolved the health sector, counties are facing a lot of challenges. They do not have adequate equipment to serve our citizens. As we encourage the sector to reduce referrals, we must improve the locally available facilities. By doing so, we shall be saving in terms of foreign exchange. If our doctors provide services locally, then it will not be necessary to travel abroad to seek specialized treatment, and we shall be saving on the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF). At times, NHIF covers for patients seeking treatment abroad. I know of a case where NHIF paid Kshs10 million for a patient to seek treatment abroad. This Bill will help in limiting people from seeking treatment abroad. Although it is a right to seek treatment abroad, we want to ensure that this Bill will help the Government and the counties to improve their equipment and medical services provision to the citizens. I want to request Hon. (Dr.) Mishra that, as he comes up with this Bill, he should encourage our doctors who ran facilities to attract doctors from abroad to come here. We should encourage The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}