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{
    "id": 1084171,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1084171/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 328,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Farhiya",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13179,
        "legal_name": "Farhiya Ali Haji",
        "slug": "farhiya-ali-haji"
    },
    "content": "As we improve our health system, it looks like the public health that was properly served by our community health workers is being neglected. That means it increases the risk of pandemics and diseases like cholera, measles and communicable diseases. They will spread easily without them. I hope that this Bill also has a requirement to harmonize the incentives for these people. People in Wajir County do not feel like they are being paid by small incentives as compared to Nairobi. The clear selection criteria that is mentioned in the Bill will go a long way in getting qualified people who are able to do certain basic things before health workers are needed. These are people who live together in the villages. As I speak, in Wajir County, the number of health centres has increased with devolution although some of those facilities are ill equipped. Community health workers are necessary because they pass information to as many people as possible so that things can work better. I challenge our Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) as well to ensure that they bring legislations that are relevant to their specific counties, so that this Bill can be properly devolved and every county government takes care of its people. I ask Sen. (Dr.) Zani to also include a clause where regulations are time bound. Sometimes when Bills are generated and you do not have regulations within a certain time, then implementation becomes difficult. As we are aware, regulations bring about policy and specificity in terms of how things should work better, because you cannot cover everything in Bills. I have worked with the Committee on Delegated Legislation and I am aware that ministries would rather avoid developing regulations for Bills. So, create a timeline like within a year or six months of the Bill being passed by both Houses. There is need for regulation to ensure that it is properly operationalized. Madam Temporary Speaker, I also want to challenge our governors. Even the causal workers in hospitals who sometimes do the cleaning and the firsthand response to patients are being mistreated. My county is one of the counties that put down their tools and that was one of the reasons that the MCAs impeached our Governor. The other day, I saw that the casual workers in Kajiado County also downed their tools. If they down their tools, the nurses and doctors are not enough to deliver health services. I urge our Governor to ensure that casual workers and community health workers are taken care of once this Bill is passed. This is so that there is a lot of access to information on health related issues. As was submitted during Sen. Khaniri’s Statement, there is need for people to know about vaccines. In some countries in Africa, the vaccines have expired even where governments procured vaccines because the uptake is low. As a result of the low uptake, the spread, shutdown, economic hiccups and challenges that communities face will continue."
}