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{
"id": 22779,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/22779/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Prof. Anyang’-Nyong’o",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Medical Services",
"speaker": {
"id": 193,
"legal_name": "Peter Anyang' Nyong'o",
"slug": "peter-nyongo"
},
"content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, I thank you and the House for giving me the opportunity to move the Vote for the Fiscal Year 2011/2012 for the Expenditures Estimates - Vote No.11 - for the Ministry of Medical Services. The health sector forms a key component of our social pillar and Vision 2030. As hon. Members may know, health, education and food are the basic needs of all human beings today, notwithstanding security and freedoms which are also important. With the promulgation of the new Constitution last year, Kenyans have high expectations from the Government of Kenya to ensure that Article 43 of the Constitution is fully implemented. Their right to health which, among other things, includes the right to the highest attainable standards of health includes the right to healthcare services, reproductive healthcare, accessible and adequate housing, reasonable standards of sanitation, access to clean and safe water in adequate quantities and social security and education. According to the Constitution, no Kenyan, living and born in this century, should be denied access to emergency medical treatment. The State, therefore, must provide adequate resources, facilities, social security and social protection to Kenyans who cannot have access to good healthcare because of their economic status. Such persons are called indigents and in our health delivery system, we must, indeed, provide for such persons, given the demands of the new Constitution. The health sector and, especially, the Ministry of Medical Services is, therefore, repositioning itself to fulfill those expectations. Now, and in the next couple of months, we will be bringing a Sessional Paper to this House and a Cabinet Memorandum to the Cabinet to ensure that we are in a sure footing to meet the expectations of Kenyans under the new Constitution. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the functions of the Ministry of Medical Services as outlined in the Presidential Circular No.1 of 2008, include among other things: 1. Medical Services Policy; 2. Creative Services; 3. Treatment and Management of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases; 4. Maternity services; 5. Clinics and hospitals; 6. Registration of Doctors and Paramedics; and 7. Taking care of the parastatals such as Kenyatta National Hospital, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Kenya Medical Training College, Kenya Medical Supplies Agency and the National Hospital Insurance Fund. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we should not also forget the regulatory agencies under the Ministry like the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board and others. Over the last couple of years, the health sector has scored certain positive indicators in terms of the improvement of health. Such positive indicators mean that the meager resources that we have had in the Ministry have been effectively used to deliver health care services to the country. For example, the Ministry has developed comprehensive Human Resources for the Health Sector Strategic Plan which addresses issues of staff deployment, updating of skills of existing health workers, among others."
}