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{
    "id": 1532532,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1532532/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 4785,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Seme, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) James Nyikal",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. I rise to support the Second Supplementary Budget Estimates for this Financial Year. I do so because it addresses or attempts to address major issues in the health sector that are of great concern to me. I appreciate that all our six referral hospitals have received some increased allocation. However, if you look at all of them, they are actually addressing human resources, which you know is a big issue in this country. I also noticed that Ksh1.3 billion has been given to address the issue of interns. This is a problem that we have every year. Even last year, we had a strike due to the issue of payment of interns. At least, this will go a long way to solve it. However, the real issue in the case of interns is poor regulation of the training, particularly among medical doctors. There is a conflict in law between the Medical Practitioners and the Dentists Council (MPDC) and the Universities Act under the Commission for University Education (CUE). Hon. Temporary Speaker, nobody in this country currently has data on how many medical students are being trained. Before, this was under the purview of the MPDC, but with the new Universities Act and the power given to the CUE, that has stopped. Nobody even looks at their programme and the way they are being trained. We only meet the problems when we come to the internship. It is not only a matter of numbers but also of quality. That is something we need to address. We have looked at it with the Hon. Member, the Chairman of health education. We need to address the issue so that we have a system of knowing how many doctors and nurses are being trained. By doing that, we can plan their deployment, particularly at the internship level. We have the issue of UHC workers who were on contract. This has not been addressed, but it is within us. We are talking about 8,000 health workers. Therefore, there is something that we need to issue. The fact that this Second Supplementary Budget has looked at human resources and put Ksh1.3 billion on it is something to appreciate. The other issue is that of the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA). Without supplies and drugs in health facilities, it does not matter what you do to people. If they do not get the drugs, they buy them, and they do not feel like they have been cared for. We have given about Ksh1.5 billion to recapitalise KEMSA. I have an issue with this allocation that we need to address. KEMSA is owed about Ksh3 billion by counties and the National Government's Ministry of Health. Together, they owe KEMSA Ksh3 billion. If you are giving them Ksh1.5 billion to recapitalise them so that they can buy drugs that the counties can get from them, then we are killing the whole principle of KEMSA. It was to be financed once, but now it buys drugs 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."
}