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{
    "id": 1402234,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1402234/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 303,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Okiya Omtatah",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "whom we refer to as consultants, were striking, and they had their way of solving the issues. In this country, we need to be sober regarding public expenditure. Before addressing the question of not paying doctors, we must sober up and get our priorities right. This Government and the past Government could pay doctors if they were disciplined in the budget, eliminating corruption and wastefulness. We have a Cabinet competing to show off the kind of watches they can wear, some costing up to Kshs30 million. We see people spending money like there is no problem. When they say there is no money to pay the doctors, how do we justify the push to recruit the Cabinet Administrative Secretaries (CAS) with no work to do according to the constitutional structure? So, the question of pay needs to be looked at. We need to rationalize how we use public funds. Regarding the issue of doctors, I would like to go back to the Constitution, 2010 drafting process. For whatever reasons, doctors, prison officers, teachers, Judiciary, and Parliament pushed for commissions to take care of their human resource interests. The teachers, Judiciary, and Parliament got it. I have the report of the Committee of experts. An undertaking was made that they would set up a national health commission to address the doctors’ pay and of people employed in the health sector. Time has come for us to consider delivering on that promissory note. We should have a national mechanism for hiring and rotating doctors. Right now, even if doctors go to the counties, chances for growth and studies are not there. It is like we are consigning them to what some people call kaburi la sahau . We need to do that. The other thing is that we need to interrogate the Constitution well, especially the Fourth Schedule. Did the people of Kenya really devolve health? If they did, did they devolve both primary and secondary health? When I read the Fourth Schedule, what was devolved is primary health, where counties are charged with the duty of preventing people from falling sick. If somebody falls sick, the national Government should take over. What was retained at the national Government are national health referral facilities. When we devolved, we considered them to be national hospitals or centres of excellence, like Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH). We forgot that some of centres of excellence like Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital. It is a Level 4 Hospital, but a centre of excellence when it comes to mental health. We have another one that deals with spinal cord injuries. Despite it being a national hospital and a centre of excellence, it is a Level 4 Hospital. Alupe Sub County Referral Hospital in Busia is a centre of excellence for---"
}