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{
"id": 1344096,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1344096/?format=api",
"text_counter": 279,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Endebess, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Robert Pukose",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Kipng'ok Kiborek, Hon. Martin Owino (Wuod chief), Hon. Duncan Maina, Hon. (Prof.) Guyo Jaldesa and Hon. (Dr) James Nyikal. Hon. Deputy Speaker, these Members gave a lot of their time to ensure that we do not just process these two Bills, but we processed four Bills during this holiday. We have a Bill on Kenya Drugs Authority, which I tabled the report. We have a Bill on Assisted Reproductive Technology by Hon. Millie Adhiambo, and I will table the Report tomorrow. Two other Bills have been processed by these Members during this recess. Among them, I want to single out Hon. Cynthia Muge, who was on maternity leave. Her baby is only four months old, and she created time to come to Mombasa and process those bills. That is a very commendable commitment. It shows how committed Members of this Committee are when it comes to House business. Allow me also to thank the various partners, NHIF, Ministry of Health, and in particular, my legal team led by Ms. Faith Sialai and my Lead Clerk, Mr. Aralle Hassan, for leading the Parliament Secretariat to do the great job we have done today. This Social Health Insurance Bill is creating a paradigm shift as far as social health insurance is concerned. In particular, I want to thank His Excellency President (Dr) William Ruto for guiding this process and ensuring that we can deliver this Bill in the shortest time possible. I want to thank all the Members who came for public participation and contributed to this Bill. I will not be able to mention them. For this Bill, we had 25 memoranda that were sent to the Committee, with some members appearing before us to make their contributions. As you are aware, NHIF has been a thorn in the flesh. There has been a lot of corruption and, as we speak, this Committee is carrying out fraud investigations by close to 30 or 40 hospitals in the NHIF scheme. This must come to an end. This Bill creates three Funds: The Primary Healthcare Fund, the Critical Emergency and Chronic Illnesses Fund and the Social Health Insurance Fund. Primary Healthcare Fund will be at Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 hospitals. The healthcare promoters are called Primary Care Networks (PCNs). Every PCN will be in charge of 100 households. As you saw yesterday, His Excellency President William Ruto launched the distribution of the gadgets for 100,000 community healthcare providers at Uhuru Park. This is a commendable contribution to the healthcare in this nation. The national Government pledged a 50:50 share in remuneration of healthcare promoters who have been working as volunteers for many years without anybody giving them a single cent. Yesterday, the national Government agreed to pay them 50 per cent and then the county governments would pay 50 per cent. After moving from one house to another, they will have something to give their families when they go back to their houses. Healthcare promoters are critical contributors to healthcare in this nation. My friend and a member of my Committee, Wuod Chief, Hon. Martin Owino, is a primary healthcare specialist. Given his experience, he has contributed immensely to the Committee's many decisions in supporting primary healthcare, which is the first call of health service. Those are the people who will look at health at the grassroot level to make sure that they refer you to the right place, even for illnesses that take time to be identified. They will refer you to either a dispensary or a health centre. From there, you will get your service. There is also the Emergency, Chronic Illnesses and Critical Illnesses Fund."
}