Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 1402189,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1402189/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 258,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mumma",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The right to health is possibly, in my view, if you put it to the hierarchies of human rights, the right to health complements the right to life. The dead cannot enjoy human rights. Therefore, human rights are for the people who are alive, meaning that the right to life is the first right or the basic right that facilitates the accrual of all the other rights. Closely linked to the right to life is the right to health. You may miss the right to education, and many have missed it. Many of our grandparents did not go to school, but if they lacked the right to health, they would have lost their lives. I am calling us to attention as the Senate to take the matters relating to the strike by doctors seriously and to guide the Government to do what is right. This morning we had the Cabinet Secretary for Health before us, but we were not able to exhaustively address the issues, since the nature of Question time is such that you are restricted to what the questioner has put. Nonetheless, the Question that was put in the morning was largely general and did not seriously address this issue. The Cabinet Secretary was then given time to read what was a very good sounding policy, but which did not address the crux of the matter when it comes to the doctors’ strike. She gave us information around the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that she has prepared. She was urging doctors to sign on it and she said everything is okay except for the issue of stipends and the interns. I wish to indicate that there is one crucial information that the Cabinet Secretary failed to give us. She did not give us the information on the impact of the strike on the people of Kenya. She did not tell us how many people have died in Kenyatta National Hospital because they have failed to get the services they require. She did not tell us how many people have become critically ill because they were not attended to at the right time. I wish to give some information that is crucial and which, I believe, the Cabinet Secretary has refused to look at. Prior to 2011, interns earned Kshs78,000 per month. After the promulgation of the Constitution, during President Kibaki’s time, the interns negotiated to earn Kshs141,000. This has moved up with allowances to Kshs206,000. A doctor takes six years in college. The last three, they shadow the consultants as they learn. Interns are entry point for employment because they come after graduation. I want to ask each of you to go to your counties. You will find that interns are the first point of contact for any patient in a hospital. So, they carry out work like any other doctor. In fact, interns have been abused. That is how the public service has worked. Having not acquired or achieved the correct doctor to patient ratios, they have been using interns to carry out the work of the doctors. You will find a ward with over 60 people, has only one medical officer and maybe three interns taking care of them. Those interns do everything that the doctor would have done except when things get serious, then they call the medical superintendent or the consultant to come in. When we hear medical interns being compared to interns in Law or teaching, it is missing the point. When I did my pupillage, I was never allowed to address the court. However, when a doctor is interning, the doctor is making decisions of life and death. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, our Constitution has provided that we cannot alter payments of employees to their detriment. Where are we finding this? Everybody is 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 and AudioServices, Senate."
}