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{
    "id": 1338159,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1338159/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 236,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Kenya. Because of the challenges that healthcare facilities face in accessing funds from the national or county Government levels, they do not have a good governance framework. The enactment of this Bill provides for that. This Bill will also provide for the appropriation, management and use of retained health services revenue to supplement operations and facilitate quality service delivery in public health facilities. As I said, money appropriated to those healthcare facilities will be retained. It will also supplement operations and facilitate the provision of affordable and quality healthcare services to patients and members of the public. Fourthly, is to promote equitable health facilities' improvement financing, including benefit-sharing in accordance with the relevant laws of Kenya. You are aware that many facilities across our country do not enjoy the same level of equitable share of resources. With this Bill, we shall be promoting equitable health facilities' improvement financing. All facilities with the ability to generate revenue will retain their revenue and manage the kind of medical care services they give to the public at their local level. In the fifth instance, this Bill will provide a unified system to guide financial management in public health facilities, improve efficiency and effectiveness and ultimately, deliver quality health service. This unified system will be across the country. It will not matter whether it is a health facility in El Wak, Karachuonyo, Ndeiya in Kikuyu, Mukurweni in Nyeri, or Shinyalu Constituency. All our healthcare facilities will have the same architecture in their financial management and how they are financed and managed. This Bill will also empower our local communities because management boards and committees will manage local hospitals at the local level. Therefore, people will have some sense of ownership of the facilities in their neighbourhoods and ensure accountability and transparency in how we finance and manage our healthcare facilities. Hon. Speaker, the Bill also makes provision for the retention of public health facilities, improvement in financing, as well as the purposes for which those retained finances will be utilised. When Members peruse through the Bill, they will see that it provides not just how much to retain or how those facilities will retain part of the revenues they raise either in own- source revenue, but what has been appropriated by county governments or even from grants and donations or gifts. It is also for what purposes healthcare facilities can utilise monies or funds they have retained at that local level. Again, as I mentioned earlier, it ensures a lot of transparency and accountability from officers designated by chief officers. Chief officers are the accounting officers of those healthcare facilities and are in charge of healthcare at the county level. The Bill also gives chief officers at the county level powers to designate certain officers as Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE) holders or have the authority to incur expenditure at that local level. Designated officers may be medical superintendents or whatever level of a health officer who is charged with the responsibility to incur expenditure. They will have to do so in an accountable manner. Then they will know what it is they can utilise this money for, by law. That is so that we do not have instances as has been happening where money is collected from our healthcare facilities and, instead of this money being ploughed back to improve healthcare provision at the local level, it is diverted to construct roads. Some other money is diverted to provide bursaries to school children. It will now be imperative that, even at that local level, the officer-in-charge and is an AIE holder will know by law what they can utilise this money for. Therefore, they will not use the funds for gardening and the construction of hospital gates when hospital wards are in deplorable states, or there is no medicine in healthcare facilities. Lastly, this Bill has close to 27 clauses. Because I do not want to go into all the provisions, the last Part, Part III, is on the role of the national Government. This Bill speaks about policy formulation, research, and development of improvement financing as the national Government's role. The Cabinet Secretary has been given certain key responsibilities in 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."
}