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{
    "id": 1056838,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1056838/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 244,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Mwaura",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13129,
        "legal_name": "Isaac Maigua Mwaura",
        "slug": "isaac-mwaura"
    },
    "content": "the Westminster aspect, but also to do the African aspect. There is that confluence. You have to take people’s medical bills. It is constant. If you do not do it, then you are not serving your people. You are not doing representation enough. It leads to a question. The Big Four Agenda was very promising, if we can reallocate. We have just come from doing the Budget Policy Statement (BPS). Can we reallocate resources as per this Motion going by the Abuja Declaration, so that we provide for 15 per cent of resources to healthcare? Madam Temporary Speaker, when we mean healthcare, we do not mean salaries for doctors, which are exponentially very high in comparison to the nurses. I remember one day I was admitted at the Karen Hospital. A doctor who only took 30 minutes charged Kshs52,000, and a nurse who stayed with me overnight, the fee note was Kshs900. How do you explain that disparity? The truth of the matter is that healthcare in Kenya has been marketized and privatized. It is not just a question of putting money into healthcare. The Ministry of Health itself runs 17 payrolls. Over 200 doctors are in administrative capacity rather than treating people. The shortage of doctors is also artificial. It is only recently that my friend, Dr. Ouma Oluga, was coopted into Government that he was able to convince the additional of both Kshs3 billion under Nairobi Metropolitan Service (NMS) and some 200 doctors are going to be hired. However, even then, you cannot explain that when you need Wanjiku, Ouma and Kalekye being treated for whatever type of cancer in that local hospital, Kshs98 billion is at the Ministry Headquarters. That means that then it is not a question of allocation. Madam Temporary Speaker, I have said time and again here also that look at the allocation from National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) payments, which is really our medical social welfare and scheme. It is a health insurance as the name goes by. Out of this Kshs38 billion, Kshs22 billion go to private institutions. It is another conduit for those who open up some clinics. I remember the big scandal of the clinics sometimes back. It is just to syphon money and inflate medical bills. That means it becomes increasingly difficult for Government to provide for universal healthcare for people who are most deserving. Part of what we do to gain political mileage is to help people waive their medical bills. Madam Temporary Speaker, I write so many letters every day from people in Ruiru in Kiambu County to KNH to Kiambu Hospital and Thika Level Five Hospital. All of every day and you can see the gratification from people who feel like now--- The gratitude that comes with you helping to clear their bills, including mortuary bills when they have actually died. I remember a little girl the other day called Ms. Jane who also had cancer. She just died and she was very promising. She was only in Form One going to Form Two. Madam Temporary Speaker, basically, this Motion is good. I wish it can actually go further and legislate, like we have a legislative proposal in terms of amending the Cancer Act if there is any such Act. I remember my political mentor, hon. (Prof.) Anyang’- Nyong’o, was pushing it hard. I also saw in the last Parliament in the National Assembly Hon. Gladys Wanga trying to do so. This is so that whatever proposal that are made here actually see light of day through legislation. A Motion is persuasive in nature and its implementation is not compulsory. We will speak here, but at the end of the day, what matters is whether we have a Bill. That"
}