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{
    "id": 1098986,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1098986/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 428,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wambua",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13199,
        "legal_name": "Enoch Kiio Wambua",
        "slug": "enoch-kiio-wambua"
    },
    "content": "The provision of colostomy bags in hospitals across this country has been made impossible and inaccessible to a lot of people because of the cost of the bags. One of the major factors that make these bags and other items in the health sector very expensive is the issue of the Value Added tax (VAT). I do not even understand why Government would want to tax appliances or items like these that are supposed to go helping the vulnerable in society. Madam Temporary Speaker, the place to start would be even in support of this Motion is to ask the Government to zero rate taxes. It is not just colostomy bags, but other items needed by cancer and other patients, including urine bags and artificial breast. By just that act of reducing or zero rating these items, the costs would go very low. They would become not just accessible, but affordable to a great majority of patients. One of the other things that I would ask Sen. (Dr.) Musuruve to look into is even on the titling of the Motion itself. This is because she is talking about colostomy bags to cancer patients and survivors in county hospitals. I know where she is coming from. She is coming from a position that health is a devolved function. When we legislate then we have our counties in mind. However, if we can just have provision of colostomy bags to colon cancer patients and survivors without limiting ourselves to county hospitals--- Madam Temporary Speaker, we have other extra county hospitals where we have cancer patients. We have colon cancer patients in national hospitals and referral and teaching hospitals. If we will provide colostomy bags to colon cancer patients in county hospitals, then we should also provide the same in national referral and teaching hospitals. That is one thing I would want to see happening in this country. Secondly, I want to really emphasize on the issue of creating and maintaining a database to know the number of colon cancer patients that we have in this country and the stages. This is important to both levels of government. National Government is for purposes of formulating policy on how to deal with cancer patients across the country. That is a standard measure on how to address ourselves as a nation to colon cancer patients. Madam Temporary Speaker, to the county governments for purposes of knowing what kind of medications at what level they need to procure. Even how are they going to engage with partners outside the country in the provision of healthcare for cancer patients? That database is very important. This database should be available for all sectors and categories of illnesses in our country. One of the reasons why we have a problem in procurement of drugs in many hospitals especially the county hospitals is because they do not even have a database of knowing what kind of medication or drugs they are supposed to buy to respond to various kinds of diseases and illnesses in their counties. Madam Temporary Speaker, you realise in a county like Kitui where we have many snakebite cases, the County Government of Kitui should have a database for that kind of challenge. This is so that when they are procuring their drugs, they know that they need this volume of drugs to deal with snakebites. A county like Elgeyo Marakwet where there are no snakebites may not spend as much in terms of procuring snakebite drugs for their patients."
}