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"content": "the whole country is about 76 per cent, in some regions in this country like North Eastern Kenya, the vaccination rate is as low as 37 per cent. Mr. Speaker, Sir, if you look at the neo-natal mortality rate, the death of children below seven days of life, the average in Kenya is 50 per 1,000. But we have certain areas in this country with as high as 128 per 1,000. If you compare this with the best facility in the world and that is Finland, it has an average mortality of seven infants per 1,000. These are not figures that are pleasing to look at especially when you look at the distribution of medical personnel in the country. There are 19,000 nurses in this country. However, their distribution is not balanced. The lowest in the list of distribution is Lamu County which has only 102 nurses. The other counties with the lowest number of nurses include Mandera County, 103; West Pokot County, 209; Turkana County, 145, Wajir County, 148 and my county, 364. On the other hand, Nairobi County has 914 nurses, Kisii County, 635; Kakamega County, 788; Nakuru County 1,095; Kiambu County 1017; Nyeri County, 740 and Mombasa County, 602. Mr. Speaker, Sir, if you look at the doctor distribution data, we have about 4,000 doctors in this country. The acceptable rate of doctor to patient ratio should be about one doctor to every 7,000 people. Mombasa County meets this rate at about one doctor to 7,000 people. However, in Mandera County, one doctor covers 508,878 people. In Nakuru County, we have one doctor for every 15,000 people; Nyandaru County, one doctor for every 10,000 people; Nyeri County, one doctor for every 5,000 people; Baringo County, one doctor for every 278,000 people and Kericho County, one doctor for every 15,000. In my own county of Migori, there is one doctor for every 52,000 people. We can see these discrepancies and hence the different statistical data that we see in the different distribution rates of deaths and births of mothers and children. This is something we can solve because figures do not lie. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we are not doing this outside our Constitution. We know that the manifesto of the Jubilee Government contained the need to give proper medical services to Kenyans. Indeed, we have support from the Constitution to ensure proper distribution of medical services to the whole country. Article 2(5) of the Constitution says:- “The general rules of international law shall form part of the law of Kenya.” Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Abuja Declaration said that we should allocate 15 per cent of our national budget to health services. Actually, the World Health Organization (WHO) demands that the allocation should be at 45 per cent. But we agreed that only 15 per cent should be allocated towards medical services. Currently, in this country, we only have slightly below six per cent of our resources allocated towards medical services. This is very appalling. Indeed, in Africa, only six countries have been able to meet the Abuja Declaration figures; that is, Rwanda, Botswana, Niger, Malawi and Burkina Faso. Currently, Rwanda allocates 18.8 per cent of its income to medical services. Very soon, you will find that their data will be better than the Kenyan situation. This is a shame. We know that Rwanda is a small country and we have assisted them in many spheres. But they have better medical services for their people. Mr. Speaker, Sir, Article 26(1) of the Constitution states:- “Every person has a right to life.” The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}