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{
    "id": 1286239,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1286239/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 444,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Oketch Gicheru",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "I think the spirit of this Bill is to ensure that when health facilities can have money exactly as they need it, so that they can respond as fast as they can. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, what defeats my mind though is that if the function of that timely response is the issue of cash flow and not having money as fast as you want - and it is because the money to be released from county coffers is a difficult and tedious process - then why would you want to again legislate a number of bureaucratic elements that will make it more difficult to access that money? I agree that cash flow is always a problem in health facilities, but we must go to reason as to why this cash flow is a problem. Health facilities work just the same as other businesses. There are issues around their medical supplies; debts that may need to be paid as immediate as it is needed to paid. In some instances, there are some serious utility bills. For instance, somebody has just run out of money for oxygen or electricity bills to be able to take care of a certain calibre of people who are in hospital becomes difficult; that is understandable. However, I do not think that we can cure it by having a more tedious process of having hospitals receive that money. For me, I propose that the sponsors of this Bill consider, if indeed they want to solve the issue of immediate access to finances, deleting and doing away with Clauses 11, 12, 13 and 14. The only Clause that we need here if we are strictly speaking in the business of healthcare and service provision is Clause 15. In this Clause 15, I invite the Chairperson of the Senate Standing Committee on Health to consider something, like what we see in the United States of America (USA) or other countries that have made advances in terms of rethinking public health. Instead of having this health management team, they can have something called Receivables Financing Team. This team can enable our health facilities to first figure out and propose the amount of money needed in a respective hospital, not in a generic way. In a perspective hospital, the amount needed to be retained so that you allow that Receivable Financial Team to allow some money are not needed for immediate used to go to the county coffers. That way, you will not claw back on devolution by, for instance, desegregating the hospitals from county plans. If you look at Section 137 of the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act, in terms of budgeting and economic planning in the counties, hospitals are involved. If remove their entire financial instrument from the county side, then the county cannot budget for them. Think about things, like what Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale was telling us--- Mr. Deputy Speaker, I just request for one more minute Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale will tell you that a big part of cash-flow problem is medical claims. Medical claims are not the money that you have. Insurances have sometimes given you money, but you do not have it there and then. If you have a receivable financial team, they will allow these health facilities to do medical factoring, and that can allow our facilities to be holistic in terms of their The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard Services,Senate."
}