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{
    "id": 1081725,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1081725/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 216,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kipipiri, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Amos Kimunya",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 174,
        "legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
        "slug": "amos-kimunya"
    },
    "content": "We learnt our lessons because we never did things right. Can we now do it better for the purposes of posterity? In the event COVID-19 causes another lockdown and we cannot access blood from another country, or we cannot travel to another country to seek treatment, we should be self-contained as a country. This is the lesson that we are learning from the recent pandemic, be it in terms of blood transfusion, preparation of production of personal protective equipment (PPEs) and all the other things. Hon. (Dr.) Eseli has given us the example of Israel. Israel realised that because of their unique situation as a country that is bombarded and surrounded by political enemies and unending wars, unless they were able to be self-contained in the production of their food, health and security devices, they would constantly be at risk. Now, Kenya must understand that as much as we are a regional power, we do not have the monopoly of protection on pandemics. If a pandemic comes and we are locked in, we need to start thinking of how we are going to protect ourselves from some of these things, and we cannot afford to do away with blood. I know we have been importing and the law is clear on who can import and who cannot import, not only blood, but blood products. It is time we started doing all that ourselves. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say that this is a good thing. I want to thank all the Members. I know many Members of Parliament have attempted to bring this matter forth, the likes of Hon. Owen Baya. I also know Hon. Kiarie, who is still here, had a similar initiative and, perhaps, he will be telling us more. They have all been talking to me separately asking that we can discuss this matter. So, I want to give the maximum time to this discussion. Most importantly, if we could concentrate on the mechanics of getting these things right, the funding will follow the functions, especially with county governments. Sadly, as much as this is a devolved function, and it will happen in the counties, none of them appeared during public participation. I hope when this Bill goes to the Senate, at least, the Council of Governors (CoG) or the Committee on Health will appear before the Senate to give input on how county governments will operationalise this very needful service. Hon. Speaker, with those remarks, I beg to support."
}