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{
    "id": 1460231,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1460231/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 127,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kitui South, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Rachael Nyamai",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13374,
        "legal_name": "Richard Ken Chonga Kiti",
        "slug": "richard-ken-chonga-kiti"
    },
    "content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. I will start by congratulating Hon. Mishi Mboko in absentia. She is very busy dealing with the matter of the Committee on Appointments, but she has brought us a very important matter on mental health in this Motion that we need to deal with. This will ensure that we have, at least, a unit at the county level taking care of people with mental issues. The Constitution gives us the assurance that everyone should have the highest right to healthcare and level of support. This may not be the situation at the moment, but the country still endeavours to get there. Hon. Mishi Mboko is calling upon this House to push for the possibility of people living with mental situations being handled at our dispensaries and Level 3 and 4 facilities that are in our counties. I must say from the outset that I support this Motion. It is important to note that we used to have matters of mental health with a few people when we were young. Today, we have more and more cases of mental health. If you go to our local villages, you hear people saying, this person “ni chizi” which is a very unfortunate word. Some of these individuals are young and may have turned to drugs, while others are troubled by various issues such as economic hardships or family problems. As a House, we must rise to the occasion to ensure that there are professionals who can identify and diagnose these issues from the most basic level of care. Even if they cannot provide treatment at that level, they should be able to refer individuals to the appropriate facilities for further assistance. I would like to also say that I agree with this Motion, that we need to push training. You realise that not many people would like to be trained in the line of psychiatric care. Our young people must see the need and the only reason they will see that need is that they need to identify that there is a possibility of being hired, not only at Kenyatta National Hospital, MTRH, at the national level or the regional big hospitals, but they will be hired from the lowest facility. I encourage young people to get trained so that we have professionals who can take care of our people. Hon. Temporary Speaker, you have just raised a very important matter where we had a magistrate in her seat and at work being shot by a police officer. It is extremely unfortunate that she died. Why is this happening? This person may have had mental stress. As we sit in this House, we do not know what that person was going through. Maybe the people who were around him may have observed something, and if this situation had been noticed earlier, it could have been addressed before the magistrate was shot. We have seen cases of young people throwing themselves from the 3rd and 4th floors where they end up dying. More and more is happening on a daily basis. It is time the Ministry of Health got serious about this and gave us the statistics of people who have committed suicide below the age of 35. Maybe we are dealing with a more serious crisis than we know in this House. It is important that we take up this matter so that we have people being diagnosed at the lowest facility. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}