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{
"id": 141238,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/141238/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Ms. Karua",
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"speaker": {
"id": 166,
"legal_name": "Martha Wangari Karua",
"slug": "martha-karua"
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to urge this Ministry to have a more co-ordinated approach to preventive and promotive health, which would end up reducing the costs Kenya and Kenyans have to bear on illness, in terms of time and money. For this to happen it is important that primary health care services be looked into critically. At the dispensaries, we ought to have the basic facilities for monitoring and detecting illness at the earliest opportunity. We, therefore, need to have laboratories that are functional. We also need to have X-ray, scans and all the necessary equipment at that level, so that before people get into serious ailment, it is detected. I urge the Minister, if she has not already done so, to travel to Cuba and see how they handle their health care services. It is undisputed that Cuba has the best health services for all in the world. I urge the Minister to adopt that method where everybody has comprehensive medical care from cradle to the grave and so many in the population have doctors and nurses who monitor their health. If this is done, we will not have the whole country paralyzed by the cost of medical care. When we visit our constituencies, one of the greatest support that our constituents seek is money either for X-rays, health services, operations or medicine. Some of the ailments could have been prevented if they were detected early. I urge the Minister to also look into the issue of tracking the medicines once they reach the dispensaries, so that we do not have them leave to unauthorised places and end up in shops. The population will benefit if this is done. Whereas we have many dispensaries in some of our areas and people get diagnosis, they are unable to get the medicine. The perpetual answer is that there is no medicine in the dispensaries. I believe that in some of the cases it is issues of governance. I have heard the Minister, while moving this Motion, mention about the Government Chemist. I did not, however, hear any plan to modernise the Government Chemist. It is a shame that people have to go to South Africa and other private facilities for DNA and not rely on the Government Chemist. It is time we modernised the equipment and made them in line with the latest, so that we can enjoy that service. In all our dispensaries, if we were to adopt the Cuba model, we would be able to do regular pap smear and mammography tests for women and also have early detection of prostrate in men. We need advanced equipment for detection and preventive and reproductive health services and also for children, so that they can grow healthy. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in other words, what I am saying is that the efforts the Government is putting are not sufficient. With a more holistic approach, with the same money, even without increasing it, this Ministry could do more. Could the Minister relook at this, so that next year, same time, we see an improvement in the way we approach health issues. On the Kshs20 million per constituency for improving services, I want the Minister to consider engaging Members of Parliament and the leadership in those constituencies in prioritising what is to be done and enabling them to have oversight roles, so that this money is used efficiently. It is not enough to have Kshs20 million in the Budget and then, at the end of the day, find nothing of substance has been done. All"
}