{"id":141257,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/141257/?format=json","text_counter":369,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Mr. Affey","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":381,"legal_name":"Mohammed Abdi Affey","slug":"mohammed-affey"},"content":"Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to support this important Vote. I begin by congratulating the Minister for Medical Services and also the Minister for Public Health and Sanitation since I have this combined opportunity to contribute. First of all, I think in terms of policy, this should have been one Ministry. This is my personal thinking and whoever decided that these Ministries be two needs to re-think the strategy because we need effective delivery of health services. For it to be effective, we need effective co-ordination at the top. The monies requested by the Ministry for Public Health and Sanitation, clearly, is not enough because this Ministry is responsible, basically, for a lot of the things that we need to be careful about in terms of our health status. I, therefore, would like to encourage the Minister and the Ministry’s staff to improve the surveillance of critical diseases that particularly can come to us from our border points. As the hon. Member for Turkana Central said before me, I would like the Minister to be careful about this long border. We have a long border with an unstable neighbour in Somalia and because of lack of clear health activities in that country; there is every possibility that a lot of the problems in that country can find their way into Kenya. Therefore, apart from the refugee camps, I think there is an important aspect of the general surveillance of our border, which is nearly 1,000 kilometres. If that is not done, I think we will be confronted with a more difficult situation once those diseases come and confront our population."}