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{
    "id": 1156718,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1156718/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 291,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Bumula, Independent",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Mwambu Mabongah",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13309,
        "legal_name": "Moses Wekesa Mwambu Mabonga",
        "slug": "moses-wekesa-mwambu-mabonga-2"
    },
    "content": "every county the way I had proposed earlier. These centres can save many perishing lives. If screening of cancer is done early, medics in this House can confirm, there are better chances of people surviving. Whenever the screening is done when a person has gone to the very late stage, the chances of survival are minimal and the costs that are involved in treatment are quite high. New research is indicating that new signs or cases of cancer are emerging. With research in our regions, we are likely to curb this menace in our society. The Bill also seeks to amend the principal Act to make it an offence for a person in charge of a public health facility to demand a permit or payment in advance as a precondition to provide medical services. I know it is a worldwide tradition that all medical doctors take an oath to save life. I am not just saying this. I have seen many cases because there are small payments that are required even when a person cannot afford the payment. It has been ruled even in the courts. It is in the Constitution. We are here to make sure that we reinforce what is in the Constitution. We should reinforce it and make sure people who have been tasked to be in charge of our health facilities prioritise saving lives. If you walk in public hospitals, I am sure you have seen people who die even at the reception. Because there is no clear punishment that is attached to some of these sections in the Constitution, people take advantage to misuse people in such public facilities. This Bill further proposes that the principal Act be amended to provide a punishment that makes it an offence for any person in public health facilities to detain a deceased person as means of enforcing settlement of any outstanding bills. I have a concern. I come from a rural constituency. On a daily basis, even when I am seated here, I send money. Of course, it cannot be enough to facilitate a dead body from a public morgue to be buried. I attended a funeral where a person had a quarter an acre of land. That person was forced to sell the piece of land to secure a dead body so that they conduct a decent send off. It is just a moral duty. We are again just confirming the obvious because the courts have ruled that it is illegal to detain a dead person. If we can find other mechanisms of settling such cases and release the person to be buried, it would save many families from a lot of agony. Even if you detain a dead body for years, that dead body cannot be converted into a property to be sold so that you settle the bills that you are looking for. You will in most cases realise that the person who has passed on is in charge of almost all the properties. It is very difficult for such a person to enforce whatever payment that is required. It is the responsibility of the Government to ensure that we get some funds. If not, we in the meantime should agree with the courts that once a person passes on and the family is ready to conduct the burial, a dead body should be released to the family and other mechanisms put in place. That should be in consultation with national Government and the county governments. This Bill further seeks to amend the principal Act to provide some regulations on levying charges for the practice of conventional medicine. I know you come from a rural constituency just like me. There are notorious public servants who have been employed in medical facilities. They find ways of ensuring that medicine is not in hospital or those clinics in rural areas. They direct patients to buy medicine at specific chemists or stores. When you move from one shop to another, the prices for the same medicine are different even if it is panadol. Is there a way we can regulate this so that the common mwananchi can be served? We are talking of empowering people at the lowest point or lowest level of the pyramid. I do not need to belabour this. I am sure you come from a constituency where a person cannot even afford to buy panadol. A panadol tablet is Kshs5, Kshs10 or Kshs20 in one shop, but you go to the next shop nearby where you have been referred and you realise that the same medicine costs almost Kshs100. We must find a way of having a balance. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}