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"id": 211604,
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"speaker_name": "Prof. Anyang'-Nyong'o",
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"legal_name": "Peter Anyang' Nyong'o",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to contribute to this Motion and congratulate my friend and her team in the Ministry. But, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, 1 before I say anything, let me make four concrete recommendations to the Ministry, following what we have been listening to this afternoon in the House. One, we need an extra hospital in Nairobi - an extra provincial or district hospital in Eastlands, somewhere near Dandora. That is where Kenya's population is in Nairobi - in Eastlands! That way, we will not punish those poor and low- income people by forcing them to travel all the way to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) and queue for two days, before they get services. We need an extra provincial or district hospital in Nairobi, somewhere near Dandora. In any case, land was already there, and some construction started in 1980s. But like all other Nyayo initiatives, it stalled. It is high time that, that hospital is built. That is my first recommendation. My second recommendation is: We do not need to apologise for a comprehensive social health insurance law. A lot of things that have been said here today could be sorted out if that comprehensive social health insurance Bill, which has been passed by this House and taken to the President for assent became law. The President was put under pressure by private health providers and he did not sign that law. The Minister knows very well that when we had our discussions with the President, he was for the law. But those tycoons who run all those private health care institutions were against it, because they are big! They do not care about the small person! Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to urge the Minister not to be faint- hearted. Let us have the comprehensive social health insurance law in this country and it will deal with a lot of problems that you are listening to. For example, somebody goes to hospital, he is treated and cannot pay the bill. He is detained in the hospital. If we had that comprehensive social health insurance law, that would be taken care of. People say that the poor cannot manage to pay Kshs10 a month to contribute to that Fund. Let us go back to colonial times. When people could not pay the hut tax, the colonialists made them do two, three or four days labour, in lieu of tax. That way, the money they would have earned from working is then paid as the tax. We can do that in this country! For one, a poor person in the rural area only needs to pay Kshs120 a year to contribute to that Fund. You know that Kshs120 today is one day's labour in Kenya. So, everybody would contribute to that Fund and then, the comprehensive social health insurance scheme will work! Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, you know that all of us in this House contribute to NHIF. But we never make use of it. Why? Because it is our commitment to support the less fortunate Kenyans, because we can afford other forms of insurance. Now, if this kind of thing is done logically and sensibly, we shall deal with a lot of health problems in this country. That is my second recommendation. 2860 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 31, 2007 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, my third recommendation is: If you read the current issue of The Economist, you will realize that the idea of retiring people at 55 or 60 years is going out of date. It is now recommended that we should let somebody work until those he or she works for finds out that they are no longer productive. Age should not be the determinant of productivity! We know that there are many people at 25 years who cease to be productive, because they are on drugs! An old man of 70 years, who is health and exercising, can be very productive! Therefore, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, one of the things that the Minister should do - and that is my third recommendation - is re-hire retired nurses to work in the health facilities that have been established through CDF in the rural areas. Those nurses are very experienced. They are well trained. They are not in a hurry to loot anybody any more. They will work! For example, in my constituency, we have built 12 new health facilities through CDF. My policy was that nobody should be further than two or four kilometres from the nearest health facility. We have achieved it in Kisumu Rural Constituency! That is a World Health Organization (WHO) standard. Now, I am grateful that the Ministry has agreed to furnish and post nurses in those 12 health facilities. That is what I have been assured. By Christmas, we shall have all those facilities working! That is a partnership between CDF and the Ministry. Very soon, the Minister is going to get a letter from me requesting her to come over and open those health facilities to the glory of the Ministry and the Kenyan people. Halelluya !"
}