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    "id": 354904,
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    "content": "Igembe Central for having elected me to this august House as their first MP because it is a new constituency. Hon. Speaker, Sir, we have had two Motions yesterday and today which have a lot of similarities. I stand to support this Motion. I did not get a chance of supporting the other one, but I am supporting this one in conjunction with the first one because they have a lot of similarities; they touch on the health of our people. We have to give this Motion the seriousness that it deserves. We need to put in place rules and regulations which will correct the situation. What was in the mind of the person who formulated this penalty of 500 per cent? You cannot penalize someone 500 times because of not paying some money towards medical care. This NHIF – as we have come to know - has been misused in many ways. Recently some clinics were being opened. People would be given money to go and get treatment in those clinics. Whether or not patients visited the clinics, they still got the money. That became a cartel and there was hue and cry in this country. The 500 per cent penalty would result into them getting money which they would give to their cronies in the name of facilitating medical care. At Igembe Central, we have the NHIF offices. They are based at Maua Methodist Hospital. Those people never leave that office to go and sensitize people in the village and tell them to register. Most of people in the villages in my constituency are ignorant of this facility. They should be using part of this money to go and educate people. Unfortunately, the officers just sit there to wait for people to go and pay money. When you have a patient and you do not pay, you will be asked to pay the penalty fee before the records are updated. Why should family members suffer simply because they want to pick a body from the mortuary? In essence, the end result is that most people who are self-employed are pulling out of the scheme. When you are told to pay such a big penalty and you cannot afford, the only option is to forget about the whole thing. That is why so many people go to solicit for money from friends and Members of Parliament in form of"
}