Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1344005,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1344005/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 188,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Tigania West, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) John K. Mutunga",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this Bill. I have looked through the Bill. I want to highlight a few issues as per my findings. I first noticed that the Bill uses the words ‘retrieval’ and ‘archival,’ which are not defined. Clause 21(3) of the Bill mentions those two words. They need to be defined. When you look at the Bill, the need for research is not amplified. It talks about the governance of data, health, data security, e-health service delivery, e-waste management, health tourism and tourism, but it does not recognise the need for research. This is data we are collecting across the country. It can be used, through data mining, to know what is happening in the country. I want to give several examples. The first thing is to identify epidemics. Using the occurrences or outbreaks of diseases across the country, we can know when to declare an epidemic. We do not have to take health personnel there. We can declare an epidemic or pandemic based on the data we get. The health facilities across the country will be captured in this data. Their status will also be captured. I believe that by implementing this Bill, we can review this report frequently and take appropriate actions to prevent lack of medicine in certain parts of the country. We can distribute medicine nationwide based on the information we get from those reports. Hon. Speaker, capturing this data and appropriate interpretation will help us guide the forward planning. My understanding of this Bill is that it will bring in integration of information. With integration, I understand somebody can visit a clinic, and then the diagnosis is done. Let us say you take an X-ray or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). After the report is taken, it can be relayed electronically to an interpretation centre or elsewhere. It is also possible for administration of drugs to be given at another point. Somebody can get drugs without necessarily having to travel to Nairobi or referral hospitals. In that case, that possibility is created by this Bill. If that possibility is a reality, then some issues come in that you have to deal with. The Committee needs to look at some of these issues. One of them is ethics; when somebody believes he was not given the correct medicine because he was not there during the diagnosis, or when somebody believes the cure is not occurring in record time because the diagnosis was done out of the way, and when somebody gets complications. Therefore, there is attribution. The fact that this diagnosis was made far away is one of the issues that this Bill needs to cure. Because of integration, there is also perceived ease of identification and spread of illnesses. It is also possible for us to detect early based on what has been reported in different parts of the country. Ease of identification will help us to move on in a better way than we are right now. I looked at the board. I thank Members of the Committee because they have restricted themselves to six, yet this Bill is open. On one member of the board, I am looking at Clause 8(1)(g). In the provision, one person represents the private sector appointed by the Cabinet Secretary. I wonder: Who is this person? Which private sector? Anybody from out there, and then you appoint and put them on the board? We need to describe this private sector. We can narrow this one down to private-sector health or ICT. If it is private sector health, will private sector ICT feel denied? We need to look at that very carefully to be sure. We may need to expand or substitute some board members to represent the private sector appropriately. 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."
}