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"speaker_name": "Eng. Muriuki",
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"legal_name": "Muriuki Karue",
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"content": "Thank you Mr. Speaker, Sir, sometimes I say things that become controversial. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I also wish to note that very many health facilities have come up, courtesy of the initiative of the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF). However, we have had problems in the last one to two years because most of these facilities are not operational. I would wish to appreciate the efforts of the Ministry of Health, particularly the Director of Medical Services (DMS), who deals with the CDF select committee in Parliament. They use that system to agree on the appropriate method on how these facilities will be operationalised. As hon. Members are aware, next week on 17th, there will be a workshop for all of us. We want to understand or determine how these facilities can be operationalised. Mr. Speaker, Sir, all said and done, there is also a problem in the appointment of boards of hospitals and district health boards. At the moment, the way these boards are appointed leaves a lot to be desired by hon. Members. Many of them are being appointed without due consideration of the leaders in their areas. They do not even consult the hon. Member of Parliament of that area where the hospital is located. I hope that a mechanism, in which the Member of Parliament and other leaders of areas can be appointed, will be put in place. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Ministry of Health has also gone ahead and declared free medical services in hospitals and health centres. I urge the hon. Minister to do this with caution. This is because many areas in which free medical services are declared do not have enough drugs and other facilities for testing. Although the Government may have done this in good faith, when patients go to hospitals, they are still required to contribute some money. They are still given a note to look for the drugs somewhere else. This means going to private pharmacies where they buy the drugs at exorbitant prices. A case in point is when free maternity service was declared. I think this is a very good initiative. We had a problem in a number of cases. This provision was declared when not all health providers were ready. In Ol Kalau Constituency, for example, a maternity wing in Mirangiini Dispensary, the staff are willing to implement this directive, but they did not have money to do so. The Ministry did this in good faith. However, money is required for the implementation of this free service. They need money to buy food for those mothers. I would wish to call upon the hon. Minister to revisit this issue, so that a little more is done to ensure that this good gesture is realised on the ground. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would wish to talk about the selection of students who go to the medical training colleges in Nairobi and other areas. It leaves a lot to be desired. We find that selections are done, but some areas are left out. I would wish to appeal that when the selections are done, we focus on the constituency level. That way, we can ensure that there is reasonable distribution of students who join medical colleges throughout the Republic. To be losing very many nurses and other medical personnel to other countries, especially, to the West. I think it is only fair that the training of new nurses and the technical personnel is intensified, maybe, by introducing more medical training centres, perhaps, at the provincial and district levels, so that we can have more nurses. 2994 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES August 7, 2007 Notwithstanding my few comments regarding unpreparedness in some cases, I beg to support."
}