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"speaker_name": "Mr. Musila",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. At least, hon. Members can, for once, allow me to represent my people of Mwingi South. I stand here to support this Motion. July 31, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2853 Let me start by commending the Minister and her staff for the work that they have done, and that they continue to do in many areas. We know where we are coming from. We know that not too long ago, we had run-down health facilities. We know that we had health facilities without drugs and, I want, particularly, to commend the Ministry for the improvement that has been made in this area. Whenever I go round my constituency and visit health centres and dispensaries, the first place I want to go is to the drug store. I am sure the Minister would like to hear that I have never seen so many drugs in my lifetime as I see today in these facilities. So, I want to thank the Minister and congratulate her and her staff. One hon. Member talked about the provision of new dispensaries, courtesy of the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF). This is one area in which, I think, the Ministry has also done well, though not sufficiently well. Many new facilities have been opened but I would like to request that this financial year, the Minister makes some more effort in ensuring that those facilities which are lying idle in the rural areas are opened. I know as I speak that there are constraints, particularly in relation to staff, but I am sure that with the efforts that she made in the past financial year, some improvement can be made. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to particularly talk about some facilities that are lying idle in my constituency. I have in mind a new modern operation theatre constructed by some donors at Migwani Sub-District Hospital. This is a facility that the Ministry should take advantage of. It has been lying idle for over one year, with no equipment. I urge the Minister to see to it that this facility is put into use. The Minister has also done very well in the provision of ambulances and I know, also, that there are constraints. However, I want the Minister and the Ministry, as a matter of policy, to ensure that there is an ambulance at every health centre. I am saying this because we have a number of health centres, some of them in distant areas from district hospitals, that have no ambulances. That means that people have to use matatus and other unsuitable means to reach hospitals. I know the Minister is very concerned, particulary about women and expectant mothers. In my constituency, for example, there is a health centre that the Minister knows very well. It is called Nuu Health Centre. It is very far from the district headquarters. There are many instances where mothers have given birth by the roadsides, matatus and even when they are being given lifts by good samaritans. I know the Minister would not like that to happen. I appeal to her to see to it that Nuu Health Centre, which has some of the most modern facilities, and which has been recommended by the District Development Committee (DDC) to be a sub-district hospital, that a provision of an ambulance be given as a matter of urgency. It is very far from Mwingi District Hospital. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I talked about the issue of improvement of drugs. I want to particulary talk about Anti-Retroviral drugs (ARVs). Up to some months ago, all of us have been purchasing ARVs from private pharmacies. We know how much they cost. I want to thank the Ministry for making ARVs available in district hospitals. I have seen, with my own eyes, relatives and friends whose health has drastically improved as a result of availability of those drugs. But I want to go further and appeal to the Minister to supply those drugs to sub-district hospitals and, eventually, to health centres. Some of the district hospitals are very far. Those poor victims of HIV/AIDS have to travel many miles to get those drugs. The Ministry has done well in that area. I am just asking that we decentralize a little bit by taking those drugs to sub-district hospitals and, eventually, to health centres. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to talk about the unfair distribution of doctors. We have district hospitals with one or two doctors. In my own case, I have a sub-district hospital which had no doctor for the last one and a half years. There used to be one. But she was posted away and there has been no replacement. That is very serious. I am requesting for doctors not only for Migwani Sub-district hospital, but for other sub-district hospitals all over the country. We must 2854 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 31, 2007 appear to be giving services equitably and ensure that all sub-district hospitals, as a policy throughout the country, are supplied with, at least, one doctor. I have already said that the Minister has done well. I know she is able to do that. I hope that, this financial year, we can see that happening. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have talked about facilities that have not been opened, operation theatres that are not functional and dispensaries that are still not opened. I hope that this financial year, they will be opened. I have been told that many ambulances that the Ministry has sent to district hospitals have no drivers. What is the point of sending an ambulance to an institution and there is no driver? What is happening in our case is that we have to ask the DO's driver or a police driver to drive the ambulance when there is a patient being taken somewhere. That is not right. As a matter of urgency, when the Minister goes round giving out ambulances, she should ensure that they have drivers. Otherwise, there is no point of having an ambulance. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to commend the staff and management of Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH). We all know where that hospital has come from. But I also want to suggest to the Minister, and I know she knows that, that the facility is overstretched. It is high time we ensured that KNH remains strictly a referral hospital, so that in Nairobi, we have district hospitals like everywhere else. If you visit KNH now, you will find the services are overstretched. That is because everyone is going to that facility for treatment. We can do better. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, finally, I want to address issues regarding the Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB). This country is awash with substandard drugs. The pharmacists tell us: \"This is the original! Do you want this one? It costs this much. But there is another one.\" Obviously, the mwananchi will say: \"I want the cheaper one.\" Yet, that is the substandard one. I want to ask that Board to ensure that all the drugs that are imported into this country are genuine and proper. There is also the issue of herbal drugs. We have companies that have sprung up in this country selling herbal drugs. There are some from China, others from Korea and South Africa. The public is being cheated that those are drugs that can cure everything, including HIV/AIDS. Could the Minister instruct that Board to ensure that anything that is being sold in this country, alleged to be curing a certain disease, even if it is herbal, is proper? Mr. Temporary Deputy, Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}