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"id": 1032419,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Nairobi CWR, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Ms.) Esther Passaris",
"speaker": {
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"legal_name": "Esther Passaris",
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"content": "COVID-19 survivor. That, in itself, will remove the stigma of people coming out and saying that they tested positive for COVID-19 and also to make people aware of the fact that you can survive COVID. At the same time, I would also like to pass my condolences from Nairobi County to the family of Hon. Justus Murunga, the Member for Matungu, who passed away from COVID-19. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, when we speak about NHIF, it is the vehicle that we need in place to ensure that we have UHC. UHC is one of the President’s Big Four Agenda. With UHC, we not only want access to health services, but also access to affordable health services so that families are not strained or put into hardships that actually increases the levels of poverty in our communities. For the CS to come out and say that NHIF will not be covering COVID-19 cases, I feel that it goes against the Constitution for two reasons. One, the Constitution says that we should not discriminate. Up to today, we have covered COVID-19 in most of our public hospitals. So, we have already given that service to Kenyans. Now, saying that they are not going to offer it means that we are discriminating on the people who have COVID-19 from here on. Every single day, we have testing being done. We say that we have a sample size of 5,000 people; I wonder where those tests are being done? Where are those samples being collected? If I was the CS for Health, I would ensure that the testing is done in major hospitals - the referral hospitals, the Level 5 hospitals and the Level 4 hospitals, where the majority of Kenyans go if they are unwell. Right now, when you say that you are not going to cover COVID-19 and you are not going to have admissions unless it is an accident or until you have been tested for COVID-19, we need to make sure that they will be tested in those facilities free of charge. That is because most of those families come from informal settlements. Some of those families do not even have the NHIF cover. We know that Kenyatta National and Referral Hospital is bearing a huge burden for the debts that they have had to write off over the years where they have provided services. It is us Members of Parliament (MPs) who go there when our constituents come to us and tell us that their sick ones are being detained. The courts have ruled that nobody should be detained for not being able to pay their hospital bills. Nobody should be detained for not being able to pay for the bodies to be released. That already is a precedent in our courts. So, when we say that NHIF will not be providing or paying for COVID-19 cases, what exactly are we saying? Are we saying that if you go to hospital and you are sick, you will be turned away because NHIF is not going to pay? You might be going to hospital not because you are COVID-19 positive but because you have diabetes, hypertension or cancer and yet, the first thing that is required is the COVID-19 test. So, if we do not admit you, we are going to slow down the gains of UHC. According to our Constitution, I believe that every Kenyan is entitled to proper healthcare. If that is the case, when you go to a facility, whether you have NHIF or nor, which a majority of our voters do not even have, you should access medical healthcare. The campaigns by NHIF to sensitize people have been slowed. The fact is that, right now, as we talk about health and the lives of our citizens, they should be able to access healthcare irrespective of whether they have an NHIF cover or not. We need to streamline NHIF in terms of membership drive, resources and management of those funds. But to say that we will not cover the sick is denying Kenyans their constitutional rights to affordable healthcare. I believe that the CS should give guidance that anyone who is unwell and goes to a facility should be able to access healthcare; whether you are COVID-19 positive or not. And because they 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."
}