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{
    "id": 1109395,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1109395/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 358,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, I hope we will grow to a point of understanding that as much as you want to have good equipment in a good hospital, you also need to have a doctor who is well paid and provided for all the necessary equipment that they need. That is part and parcel of good healthcare management, which is what is being promoted by our colleague. I urge Sen. (Dr.) Ali that this is a good beginning. There are many other things that we need to do in terms of the challenges that we face. Just speaking as a general topical concern is that many Kenyans are calling upon us right now with the challenge. Madam Temporary Speaker, look at the hospital bills that people are paying. What is the justification? That you are admitted in hospital for one week and you are being asked for Kshs3 million, Kshs4 million or Kshs5 million. How many Kenyans have ever seen a million put together? It is an obscene amount of money. I am sure that 90 per cent of our citizens have never seen that money put together, yet on a daily basis, you are hearing of fundraisers deep in the villages of people being asked for that kind of amount. What is the body that regulates this practice of many of these mushrooming private hospitals do about it? Madam Temporary Speaker, when you ask them and sometimes read through some of these bills, you find funny quotes that have been included here. A Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patient in a day is being charged for 100 surgical gloves that were used. Surely, for a COVID-19 patient who is in an isolation room, where is this that these doctors used close to 200 surgical gloves and so many others? All of these things are written in medical terms and the average citizen cannot understand. This is something that the Committee on Health needs to bring Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) here to explain to us. Are they putting the proper checks for many of these private hospitals that you can clearly see are only seeking to make profit out of the tribulations and challenges that are being faced by our citizens? Madam Temporary Speaker, therefore, I conclude and appreciate the good work that is being done by our colleague. I hope that he grows on from here and even suggests better things that we can do, as a Senate, before the end of our term, to salvage the very ugly situation in our public health system in this Republic. With those remarks, I support."
}