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{
    "id": 1108465,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1108465/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 365,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Ali",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. Pursuant to the provisions Standing Order No. 141 (1) of the Senate Standing Orders, I beg to move that the Health (Amendment) Bill be now read a Second Time. Before I delve into the content of the Bill, I would like to give some background information on the issues affecting human resource for health. The management of human resources for health has always been a matter of concern in this country. In pre- devolution, we used to have problems with workers, especially in the health sector striking. This has continued to date, even after the health sector was devolved. Although after devolution, it was the key purpose, which was to bring services closer to the people. We note that this category of officers has also increased post-devolution. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the delegation of functions between the national and county governments under the Constitution resulted into human resource for health being recruited at both the national and county level. In theory, this was the prescription that was supposed to have solved the problem. Since it promised to make it easier for the county to absorb necessary capacity for human resources for health, which is a problem at both levels. However, and sadly so, due to the fact that the health function was not costed before being transferred to counties, counties still continue to attract, employ and retain the health workers that they need. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, according to the Ministry of Health 2015 Devolved Human Resource Policy Guidelines on human resource, Kenya is one of the counties identified by World Health Organisation (WHO) as having a critical shortage of healthcare workers. This shortage is remarkably worse in the rural areas where the understaffing level of between 50 per cent and 80 per cent at the former provincial health facilities. Those of us from rural Kenya really suffer the effects of this shortage. For instance, in Wajir County, according to the Kenya Health Workforce Report of 2017, at the time of preparation of that report, it had a ratio of nine doctors, 12 clinical officers and 16 nurses per 10,000 people. The combined ratio of doctors, clinical officers and nurses was one per 10,000 population. Other counties in the rural Kenya, especially Samburu County had a combined ratio of doctors, nurses and clinical officers of 2.5 per 10,000 population. Turkana County had a ratio of 1.2 per 10,000 population. Migori County had a ratio of 3.7 per 10,000 while Tana River, 2 per 10,000 persons."
}