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{
"id": 1056837,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1056837/?format=api",
"text_counter": 243,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Mwaura",
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"speaker": {
"id": 13129,
"legal_name": "Isaac Maigua Mwaura",
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"content": "measures proposed are good especially if you look at provision of a stipend. That then would mean that it will guarantee or accrue to many people despite their type of cancer. Further, the Motion goes ahead and discusses the specificities of breast cancer and those who lose their limbs, for example. That is okay. However, cancer is so widespread. There is cancer of the colon and we can keep on mentioning. Madam Temporary Speaker, I have had to help in the treatment of many people with albinism, many of whom have had to die because of skin cancer. It is the number one killer of persons, who are like me. If you look at some of the images, they are horrendous. You would find someone whose whole face is eaten up and there is a huge hole there, like the lady by the name Ms. Joan Auma. She is a 28 year-old lady, a young mother from Jera in Siaya County, whom we buried last year. By the time we came to find her, it was way too late with regards to her treatment. Madam Temporary Speaker, there is another gentleman by the name Mr. Ishmael Shikanga from the border of Kenya and Uganda, whom we just discharged from Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH). The bill to treat him was nearly Kshs500,000. He does manual work and does not have anything to eat. Thank God that in my eight years of being a Parliamentarian, I have been able to institute a programme by the Government that pays for them up to Kshs300,000 or USD3,000, that is what you say. Someone like Mr. Ishmael Shikanga, even if it went over and above, at least he was able to be assisted by Government. Madam Temporary Speaker, there are many cases of even recurrence like another young man called Mr. Kuria from Kitale. He is a 20 year old who really is an orphan who ekes out a living by transporting water in jerry cans to people’s homes. He got skin cancer on his head. We treated him but then, he had to go back home. He needed care and could not pay rent. All of those problems of helping here and there and eventually the cancer recurred. You can see the same spot that had been done for plastic surgery, then has to be mended afresh, yet even the compatibility of that transfer has not taken route exactly. We are seeing a situation where many of the cancer patients are not able to sustain their livelihoods because they cannot perform. Madam Temporary Speaker, it is a question of looking at also not just it as a medical issue. For a medical issue you could say then that you are improving the facilities, which I must agree are not even there. It is also a social issue. Let me give a practical example. I gave a call of a person who requires to be treated for skin cancer. As their representative, I have to house that person here in Nairobi, be with that individual because by the time, even if it is apparent as night and day, you have to do biopsy. Biopsy is not taken care of by Government. That cost alone is not taken care of by Government. By the time they get biopsy, for example, at the KNH, they are referred to private hospitals because there is a backlog. After that, even if it is confirmed that they have cancer, to get a bed space at the oncology ward is a nightmare. There are patients who even share beds. To get a slot there and the clinic is on Tuesday is not easy. We are not talking about hypothesis. Madam Temporary Speaker, we are talking about things that we, as legislators, and I am sure many Senators would agree--- The dual role of a parliamentarian is to do"
}