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"speaker_name": "Mr. Musila",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I have risen to represent my people in particular on matters as important as those in the health sector. Let me start by congratulating the Minister, and her team, for the good work they have been doing in the recent past. I want to particularly mention the fight against tuberculosis, malaria and polio in this country. We have seen this Ministry making concerted efforts to ensure that these diseases are dealt with well. The Minister has been in the forefront, fighting for poor people in our rural areas, particularly in the provision of medical care. I want to congratulate her. Let me also echo the views expressed by my colleagues with regard to opening of more health institutions, particularly dispensaries. Dispensaries are institutions where patients get first aid. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is important that those institutions are located in places where they can be accessed by the ordinary people. Regrettably, at the moment, most people have to travel for over 20 kilometres to reach dispensaries to get first aid. Forty-three years after Independence, that should not be allowed to happen. Therefore, when Members of Parliament, through the Constituencies Development Fund (CDF), with the agreement of the communities, construct these dispensaries, the Ministry owes it to the communities to ensure that the dispensaries are opened. I would like to underscore the importance of the Ministry appreciating the role members of the public are playing in constructing these facilities. Some of them pay the last penny they have in order to ensure that these facilities become available. Therefore, the Government should reciprocate by ensuring that these facilities are opened. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I had a chance to talk to the Minister concerning Migwani Sub-District Hospital. This is a good example where people have put their resources to October 17, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2955 develop the institution. We have put up a modern out-patient block at a cost of Kshs8 million. My own family has put up wards costing Kshs2.5 million. My friends have put up a most modern operating theatre. The CDF has put up a mortuary. However, until recently, these facilities have been lying idle. I appreciate that lately, I have seen movement indicating that, at least, the wards are operational. However, the operating theatre is not yet operational. I see funds being provided to other hospitals to construct theatres, and yet here we have a theatre that has already been constructed but which lacks equipment and staff. It makes sense for the Ministry to appreciate, where people have put effort, and assist them. Our mortuary is ready but lacks refrigeration equipment, which is too expensive for the local community or the CDF to afford. Therefore, I request that this institution, which was put up through the people's efforts, be given priority, so that it can be fully operational. Even as I speak, there is no doctor at that institution. I do not see how you can operate a sub-district hospital without a doctor. This problem has persisted for a long time. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I appreciate that there has been great improvement in provision of drugs to hospitals. However, we still have problems. We have heard of patients dying unnecessarily due to lack of certain drugs. For instance, when the Minister replies to this debate, I would like her to respond to the issue of patients who have been bitten by dogs. I understand that the policy of the Ministry is that patients must pay for these drugs. The cost is enormous. Such a patient has to be given many injections which he must pay for. We are talking of poor communities who cannot afford even a meal a day. So, what it means is that such a patient will get rabies and die. It is not acceptable. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, snake bites are very common in many areas but snake venom is not available in most dispensaries. May I ask the Minister to address herself to the issues affecting the common man. I know that she advocates issues affecting the common man. The common man in the field needs medicines for treatment of snake bites, dog bites, et cetera . These are some of the issues I would like the Minister to address. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the issue of ambulances has been mentioned. I need not repeat that I have had occasion many times, to carry maternity case ladies who have often delivered in my car on the way to hospital. This is unacceptable. May I ask that efforts to provide ambulances to hospitals be stepped up. In particular, the Minister knows a health centre called Nuu in Mwingi District. The Minister knows the health centre very well because she has visited it. It is very far from Mwingi District Hospital. The institution has all the required facilities, including wards and operation theatres. However, there is no ambulance. Therefore, most patients, especially ladies, have to die because they cannot reach Mwingi District Hospital due to bad roads. Therefore, I appeal to the Minister to provide an ambulance to Nuu Sub-District Hospital. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the issue of provision of staff to these facilities has been addressed. I need not belabour that point. Most dispensaries have single nurses who work from Monday to Friday. Over the weekend, those nurses are off-duty and yet that is the time when people are taken ill. I appreciate the financial problem as far as recruiting of medical staff is concerned. However, something needs to be done. The Minister for Finance must address himself to the issue of medical staff. The Ministry of Finance should provide resources for recruitment of additional medical staff and improved salaries, so that medical institutions countrywide can provide the services that are required. I would also like to call upon the Minister to instill some discipline in the few staff available. We have had cases of medical staff handling patients in a rude manner. Most of the members of staff in public medical institutions are dedicated. However, we have some elements in the rural areas who do not treat patients properly. 2956 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 17, 2006 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me, quickly, comment about Kenyatta National Hospital. This is a very important institution but, looking at the funds provided for it, I note that they are not adequate. We need to provide more money to the Kenyatta National Hospital. Talking about that hospital, I would like to appreciate the assistance that the Director continues to give us by assisting poor patients who are discharged or die, in waiving certain percentages of their medical bills. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like everyone here to appreciate the fact that most of the people who are referred to Kenyatta National Hospital from district hospitals are poor. Presenting such patients with bills of Kshs100,000 on being discharged, is a big joke. Let us have provision where people at Kenyatta National Hospital can be treated without regard to the money that they have to pay and ensure that, at the end of the day, that money is paid through some provision by the Treasury. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we must appreciate that we are operating under an environment where poverty is on the increase. We cannot afford to increase the cost of such important institutions without taking care of the plight of the people concerned. Therefore, I request the Minister to ensure that Kenyatta National Hospital is provided with sufficient funds to ensure that medical bills of patients from poor families are taken care of by the State. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, finally, HIV/AIDS has continued to be a big killer in this country. Personally, I have never supported the idea of having the National AIDS Control Council under the Office of the President. It is time we appealed from the Floor of this House, to the President, whose prerogative it is to allocate portfolios, to move the National AIDS Control Council from the Office of the President to the Ministry of Health. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I speak, the Constituencies AIDS Control Committees are dead. They are not functioning. I think the only way is to put the National AIDS Control Council under the Ministry of Health and give the Minister the power to control this disease because the Office of the President cannot do what it is supposed to do. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}