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"id": 211590,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mrs. Mugo",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Education",
"speaker": {
"id": 85,
"legal_name": "Beth Wambui Mugo",
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to support this Motion. Let me start by congratulating the Minister and her team for a job really well done. We have seen how far we have travelled during the last four years, when the Minister took over. Our health services in this country had more or less collapsed. The services were in \"Intensive Care Unit\". But now, we have health systems worth talking about. We have health systems where other regions come to seek health assistance, instead of going to Europe and other places. That makes us very proud, especially now that we have very few Ministries headed by women. The female gender can perform. That is true. We are very proud of this Minister. I hope that, that serves as an example to the rest of the Government and the country. I am sure that will also go a long way in empowering the quest for 50 extra seats for women in this House. The more women we have, it seems, the better services we can get in this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me also commend the staff of the Ministry because we have seen the expansion and improvement of services. I cannot say that we have employed more staff. They have devoted their time and skills to serve the people of this country. Indeed, we cannot be a working nation unless we have a healthy nation. As a result of that health improvement, we have seen growth. That is because Kenyans are able to work better. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, having said that, let me also congratulate the Minister July 31, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2855 for her recent announcement of scrapping all the fees to do with maternity or delivery. We will see more women accessing safe motherhood or having their children in a healthier way. That will also save the lives of children and lower child mortality. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I think next to the Ministry of Education, this is the only other most important Ministry. The Ministry of Education is important because it covers everything. We must ask for more money to cater for this Ministry. We are happy that the Ministry got an increment in its Budget. However, we hope that in the next Budget, the Treasury will increase even more money to the Ministry so that more poor people can access health services. I want to say a word about health facilities which were put up through CDF money. We are glad that the Ministry has taken over these facilities, but there are still more which have not been taken over. I want, in particular, to say something about Nairobi. We support the fact that Kenyatta National Hospital should only be a referral hospital. However, this is not possible because many Nairobi residents still depend on the Kenyatta National Hospital even for simple ailments. I would like to encourage the Minister and the Ministry to give us district hospitals in Nairobi. We now have three districts in Nairobi and these three districts deserve, not only one district hospital, but two hospitals per district because of the population. The population is extremely high and only then can we realise Kenyatta National Hospital purely as a referral hospital. Nairobi residents waste a lot of time queuing to get served in such a busy hospital. I want to thank the Ministry for taking over the Dagoretti Sub-District Hospital, which was put up through CDF money, and opened its doors about two weeks ago. This facility serves more than 300 people per day, who go for treatment. That shows the need that was there. There are still several items which are missing. We are turning away expectant mothers who come to deliver, because we still do not have a delivery bed. We are still waiting for a delivery bed which we were promised by the Ministry. Although we have a maternity wing, we do not have a delivery bed and women are getting very disappointed. I hope that such issues will now be sorted out very quickly and we can have a delivery bed for the expectant mothers. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am happy that the Minister has also told me that she will soon send a team of medical officers to work in the theatre. That way, we will be able to alleviate the long queues at the Kenyatta National Hospital. I would also like to say something about the public health officers. If our health officers in Nairobi would work the way they are supposed to, we would reduce the illness affecting people in this area by half. If you walk in the streets of Kawangware, Kibera or any other centre, you will see raw sewage and open manholes. There is absolutely no planning of the sewerage systems. The clean water mixes with the sewage. The people who built the systems got away scot-free. We have complained again and again but nothing is done to those people. I do not know why they are not taken to court by health officers and charged so that the others can learn. The Ministry should pay more attention in that area and prevent more diseases from spreading. Another issue which affects this Ministry is that, at times, we have many patients who are detained in hospitals because they cannot pay their bills. When they are detained, they incur even more expenses which they will not pay at the end. I am requesting the Minister to formulate a policy of finding out exactly who cannot pay their bills so that he or she is not detained in hospital. When these people are detained, everybody loses. The hospital keeps on feeding them, but at the end, they are still not able to pay. That way, we also get a very bad name from those people who feel as if they are poor and they are not able to pay. I believe that from the funds, we could have a Sub-Vote to cater for that. I think there is such a Sub-Vote. We should give more money to it to enable the hospitals to waive such bills. I want to say just one word about school health. It is time now that we, in the Ministry of Education, worked in partnership with the Ministry of Health so that we can extent clinics to schools. That way, we could monitor the health of children and detect illnesses, which could result 2856 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 31, 2007 to something big, if not detected early. We have a programme on school health--- If medical students, who are on their internship, are supported by a hospital, like Kenyatta, they could deliver those services to schools. We used to have slum clinic days where one of the former directors of the Kenyatta National Hospital used to send a mobile clinic to the slums, and many people would be treated that way. This would keep those people away from queuing at the Kenyatta National Hospital. This would also keep more people healthy. I request the Minister to see if we could go back to that programme, which I believe was initiated by Prof. Meme. I used it at one time and it was very useful. With those few words, I beg to support."
}