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{
    "id": 1056889,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1056889/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 295,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Kasanga",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13185,
        "legal_name": "Sylvia Mueni Kasanga",
        "slug": "sylvia-mueni-kasanga"
    },
    "content": "This Motion is very timely like the colleagues ahead of us have said. The statistics on cancer are very scary. The statistics that Sen. (Dr.) Musuruve has highlighted here, with an annual incidence of cancer closing in on 37,000 new cases annually and an annual mortality of 28,000 is very worrying. That is an extremely high mortality rate. During COVID-19 times, and we know what COVID-19 does; it is speeds up when somebody has a pre-existing condition and things like that. I can only imagine what the statistics look like at a time like this today. I thank you for highlighting this issue. Madam Temporary Speaker, secondly, I agree with Sen. (Dr.) Musuruve on the economic impact of cancer, which we all know. I think there is not a single Kenyan who can stand today and say that they do not know a person who has succumbed to cancer, living with cancer or battling with cancer. We all know the economic pain of having to support somebody with cancer. We have all walked that journey one way or another. We always know that because of our healthcare system and the status that it is in, many families are just a cheque leaf away from real poverty lines. Cancer is one of those that is so expensive for the people who are suffering and for their families. It causes a lot of distress and the burden is not just physical and financial. We know it is very emotional and it adds to the statistics of mental illnesses because of the emotional trauma that the families have to endure when somebody is diagnosed, has to walk that path and finally succumbs. The pain is left with the family who have to deal with picking up the pieces of that trauma. There is no doubt that the statistics that are given here are a cause of worry for us here in the Senate. Rightfully, Article 43(1) (a) states that everyone has a right to the highest attainable standards of health. We are in the advent of the rollout of the Universal Health Care (UHC), and yet, we have this conversation here today; that our cancer patients are not getting adequate support. Madam Temporary Speaker, we have seen many incidences in this House, starting with the Managed Equipment Scheme Services (MES) and the horror of the report that came to the Senate and had to be rejected. Beneath all that is the underlying corruption; that if it were not there many Kenyans would have found relief from this scheme. Look at COVID-19 funds. We have a report sitting here in Senate that has highlighted the use of COVID-19 funds in counties, yet we have not even started prosecuting that issue as urgent as it is right now. Sometimes you wonder where the rain started beating us. Why is it that it seems we cannot prioritize the very thing that is at the heart of humanity for Kenyans? Why is it that our Government cannot see that health is such a critical aspect of our Constitution that it needs to be prioritized to the point that by now we should have had the Universal Health Care scheme working across all counties as a matter of priority? What country are we if we are all unhealthy and cannot handle our health situation? We sit here to lament yet we are the leaders of this country. Sometimes you wonder when the rain started beating us. Madam Temporary Speaker, Sen (Dr.) Musuruve has told us that the Ministry of Health has put in place a National Cancer Control Strategy, 2016 to 2020, that aims to implement a coordinated and responsive cancer control framework that should lead to the reduction in the incidences of mobility and mortality through effective partnerships for the wellbeing of Kenyans."
}