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{
    "id": 1110316,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1110316/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 302,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Kasanga",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13185,
        "legal_name": "Sylvia Mueni Kasanga",
        "slug": "sylvia-mueni-kasanga"
    },
    "content": "two, the issues were the same across board; issues to do with promotion, remuneration and over working. After listening to all the issues that were raised by the doctors, I can clearly see where Sen. (Dr.) Ali is going with this proposal. The Kenya Human Health Resource Advisory Council will stand in place of a commission to help the doctor address pressing issues. We cannot understate the fact that human resource is the biggest resource that our country has. It is the single most critical component in any organization or body. A Government that cares for its people must prioritize health care, sanitation and education. Seeing how our doctors have been treated over time, we begin to question where the priority to our citizenry is. If we cannot prioritize our doctors, are we really prioritizing healthcare in our country. I know that we are currently doing the roll-out of the universal healthcare but we are doing that when the plight of our own doctors and all the other practitioners that Sen. (Dr.) Zani has listed are not taken care of. How is the service of universal health care supposed to roll out? Madam Temporary Speaker, I listened to the debate that took place yesterday, on the Public Private Partnerships Bill (National Assembly Bills No.6 of 2021). It was very robust. I hoped to catch it but I missed. If I was to contribute at that time, I would have said that when we talk about PPPs, we must consider the fact that we have to expand our tax base. Otherwise, where then do we get money to pay our doctors who are under- remunerated, as most of the Senators ahead of me have spoken? This expansion of tax base can happen even through PPPs. The PPPs do not necessarily have to be for large infrastructure projects. They can also happen in a sense that our own citizens can also participate in an enabling environment. These are some of the issues that are on my mind; we have a situation where our doctors are under- remunerated and we do not have enough practitioners in our counties. When Sen. (Dr.) Ali was moving the Bill, he gave some statistics of how the gap in the provision of these practitioners is so big. I also came across the same when we were doing the Mental Health Bill. We have a serious deficit of nurses, doctors, psychologists and community-based health workers. We have a long way to go. We have to have these conversations. When we look at the other various Bills that come in the House, we kind of have to look at them in tandem and realize that we have quite a task ahead of us. What I can add to this Bill is that the guidelines for best practices and performance reviews must also come as part of the work of the Advisory Council. This is because we also want best practices for our citizens. As we now get an Advisory Council that will look into the plight of doctors in every single way, let us also enhance best practices. Like some of the Senators ahead of me said, we should have such high quality healthcare across the board. Madam Temporary Speaker, let us not forget we are all Kenyans. We want to be able to know that I can visit Wajir County, where the proponent of this Bill comes from, and should I fall ill while there, I should not worry because I can get healthcare without necessarily having to call for evacuation. We want equity as it was proposed. Health care must be of good quality across the country."
}