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{
    "id": 1169166,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1169166/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 157,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Ndwiga",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 278,
        "legal_name": "Peter Njeru Ndwiga",
        "slug": "peter-ndwiga"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. I stand to support this Petition. I wish to draw the attention of the Senate to the fact that the earlier Statement brought by Sen. Iman was also leaning on the same. I would have wished to ride on that Statement earlier, but allow me to do so now. The health sector in this country is in crisis. We allocate equitable revenue in this House to counties. In most corrupt counties, those resources are used in infrastructure development because that is where you can get your kickbacks earlier at the expense of health services. As I stand here in this House towards the tail end of the session, Embu County is a perfect example of a failed county in terms of health services. For the last four months, the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and High Dependency Unit (HGU) in Embu County have been closed. To date, Embu Level 5 Hospital has no electricity and even water. Can you imagine if you want to visit your patient in that hospital, you carry for them water to drink and water to bathe. It is so sad. As of now, we thought that was the worst and that was last week. As of today, all the medical facilities in Embu County have been shut down. Every morning, you hear very sad tales of people who are dying in their houses because they have no way of getting medical attention anywhere else apart from private health facilities and they cannot afford those private health facilities. For one to even be admitted, you need to put a deposit of so much. This is so sad. It is not just an Embu County crisis, it is almost a national crisis. All the medical practitioners in Embu County have raised concerns which I have supported as their Senator. The deductions from their salaries which are meant to go to NHIF and their SACCOs, for the last eight months those deductions have not been remitted to where they belong. As a result of this, most employees in Embu County are being listed in Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) because of a fault which is not theirs. Madam Deputy Speaker, it is so sad. Unfortunately, this is happening towards the tail end of this Senate. In order to manage the health sector in this country, the solution is not to just get it back to the national Government. No. The solution is that when the next Senate convenes, it should immediately create health boards. All level 5 hospitals should be run by semi-autonomous boards because they can generate their own funds to run themselves. However, Level 4, Level 3, level 2 and level 1, should be run by county health boards. The funds for that board should be allocated directly by the Senate. That is how we will curb all these many problems that we are getting from our own counties."
}