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{
    "id": 1623222,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1623222/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 4649,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Ojiambo Oundo",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "I have so many other cases I wanted to address, but for the sake of time, let me tackle the elephant in the room: the issue of Universal Health Care. I have been a strong proponent of registration under the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) and the Social Health Authority (SHA). In my constituency, everywhere I go, I sing the gospel. There have been many good cases, and I applaud that. Hon. (Dr) Nyikal is here, and we must address universal healthcare, critical illness and the relationship between the Social Health Authority (SHA) and private hospitals. Currently, I have a case of a 19-year-old boy from my constituency admitted at Scion Hospital, Imara Daima, Nairobi. Two weeks ago, the bill was Ksh450,000. SHA paid Ksh56,000; the family has raised Ksh170,000, and he still needs approximately Ksh200,000. The patient is detained. He was hit while crossing the road during his side hustle. There has been no attempt to solve the problem. I implore you, Hon. Temporary Speaker and the Budget and Appropriations Committee, to create a social intervention system for such cases. We have nowhere to get the Ksh200,000. The longer he stays in the hospital, the bigger the problem becomes. I have a similar case of a patient detained in a private hospital in Eldoret who was not registered with SHA. That is the danger we have. We must invest in member registration. On money allocated to county governments, it is widely agreed that there is no value for the funds. Most of the money is lost in recurrent expenditure because county governments have become de facto employment bureaus. They employ everybody, including people who go to work and those without job descriptions, on their payrolls. The Office of the Auditor-General requested more money, and I am pleased that the Committee increased its allocation. We can save more money if they net the thieves in the county governments. It would be a travesty of justice to give them more money in the next financial year if they do not bring the thieves in the county assemblies to book. I also heard Hon. Atandi indicate that they have reduced the fiscal deficit. I am surprised by that because we have not yet passed the Finance Bill. Therefore, we do not know how much revenue we will generate. We should explain this process to Kenyans."
}