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{
    "id": 1338163,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1338163/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 240,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Let me not go through all the provisions but encourage Members that this is part of the Healthcare (Amendment) Bills—the four Bills that I mentioned. It will be a game-changer in how we manage our country's healthcare facilities and actualise universal health coverage to millions of people. They have suffered over the years due to a lack of accessible, affordable and quality healthcare. Finally, we will be able to crack what has escaped us for many years in the provision of universal health coverage towards the realisation of Article 42(1) of the Constitution. It is on the provision of affordable, easily accessible and quality healthcare for millions of our people. I believe that all of us will now rise to the occasion to support these Bills. I mean this Bill, the Primary Health Care Bill listed as Order No.14, and the two other Bills emanating from this House that have been considered in the Senate. The Bills will be that game-changer that will make sure we completely change the architecture of how we manage and provide healthcare to millions of our people. As I said when I moved the other two Bills, many Members of this House and even the Senate, our governors and MCAs will tell you that, other than education, the cost of healthcare is the primary burden to millions of our people in our constituencies. If we can effectively deal with the cost of healthcare so that our people can access affordable and quality healthcare at the local level, we can save millions of our people from a burden that many families have had to bear. Healthcare bills, illness and sickness in families have rendered many families destitute when a family member falls sick and they cannot afford it. Even Members of Parliament bear the burden because I know many Kenyans assume that Members of Parliament have all the money to pay for healthcare bills, those of their families and their constituents. All those Members of Parliament here will tell you about the unmanageable number of fundraisers they are invited to because of medical care. That is when they are in their constituencies every Monday or Friday. Members of the public will not even understand that the role of providing healthcare is devolved and that it belongs to governors and county governments. They all walk to our offices looking for help. Understandably, Kenyans are desperate for affordable healthcare, and we cannot afford to finance their healthcare from our pockets. Through the Social Health Insurance Fund, we approved here the other week, and by working collectively as a nation and as leaders, we can enact those kinds of laws. That will completely change how we manage our healthcare facilities and primary healthcare, enable us to finance our healthcare, and completely change the 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."
}