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{
    "id": 1021663,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1021663/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 239,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Murang’a CWR, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Ms.) Sabina Chege",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 884,
        "legal_name": "Sabina Wanjiru Chege",
        "slug": "sabina-wanjiru-chege"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I will be brief. First of all, I congratulate Hon. (Dr.) Mishra, who has been my Vice-Chair, for coming up with this Bill. The Health (Amendment) Bill (National Assembly Bill No. 64 of 2019) was submitted to our Committee and we engaged stakeholders. It is a noble Bill. I have heard Members talking about their experiences. It is true that most of us have gone through such experiences where Kenyans are forced to go and seek treatment elsewhere. However, as Members have mentioned, we have good expertise here, though we need to support them more by coming up with proper policies and improving our hospital facilities. Dr. Mishra, being among the experts in the industry who is also running a private medical facility, can give us insights on what we need to improve on as a nation. I want to bring to the attention of this House that, currently, we have the Kenyatta National Hospital that I encourage Members to visit and see a state of the art facility. We will be coming up with a state-of-the-art imaging center such that issues of cancer are no longer going to be referred out of Kenya, especially the popular PET scan that was not available. Only recently, Agha Khan University Hospital got it and, most of the time, bookings are full. As we talk about referrals, as a nation, we need to relook at how we refer our patients not only out of the country, but also within because health is a devolved function. If we are able to improve the facilities, not just at the referral hospitals or with equipment, but right from our dispensaries, there are many diseases that we can treat and many diseases that we can protect our people from, especially the non-communicable diseases. We used to have proper healthcare, starting with our volunteer community health workers all the way up. Sometimes, people wait for too long. Some of the cancers that kill our people should not actually kill - for example, cervical cancer and breast cancer, if detected early. We should be able to save many lives. Right now, we are faced with the Covid-19 pandemic. Covid-19 came as a lesson. I know there is a lot of politics around Covid-19, but I would like Kenyans to see the positive side. We are going to improve our healthcare infrastructure. Each and every county has gone through hard questions on the state of their healthcare. I have seen many counties improve their facilities. We have also allocated money to the counties to improve their facilities. I want to urge Members, when you go home, you should visit those facilities to see whether the money that was allocated by this House is being utilized 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."
}