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{
    "id": 384256,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/384256/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 109,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Musila",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 94,
        "legal_name": "David Musila",
        "slug": "david-musila"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for this opportunity to contribute. I want, on the outset, to say that I support this Motion. This Motion calls for building of new hospitals and promoting existing hospitals so that each of the 47 counties will have a Level 5 hospital before the end of the term of this Parliament, which is 2017. But before I discuss the substance of this Motion, I want to remind my colleagues that it is 50 years since Independence and it is very sad that 50 years after Independence, this country can witness the kind of medical facilities that we have, particularly in the rural areas. Madam Temporary Speaker, people die unnecessarily from diseases or incidents which they ought not to die from. In the rural areas, people die from simple snake bites simply because we do not have snake venom that one is injected after a snake bite. People die of rabies because there is no medicine. The other day we saw a documentary on one of the television stations where – I believe it is in Pokot county – people had to be given drips under a tree because facilities do not exist. Three weeks ago, the Medical and Dentists Board had to punish a doctor from Mwingi District Hospital who was called from a bar where he was drinking to go and attend to a mother who needed a caesarian section operation and he went and operated the lady, left the belly open and went back to the bar to continue drinking. This is Kenya 50 years after Independence. Today, we have a lot of dead bodies detained by doctors in various hospitals. Even the Kenyatta National Hospital, which is a Government hospital, has detained dead bodies. When a patient unfortunately dies in hospital and the family cannot pay medical bills, the body is detained in the hospital for non-payment of bills. Why am I saying all these? I am saying this to remind our colleagues that we are very far. If a national hospital like Kenyatta National Hospital is detaining dead bodies of poor people--- Even if we call it a referral hospital or Level Four, unless we equip this hospital with proper personnel – I think the Senate Majority Leader alluded to this – probably this is the answer. Yesterday I visited the Mwingi District Hospital where I come from. It is just a hospital by name because simple things like kits for theater are lacking. They probably have one kit and yet they are not expensive items. I think we should go beyond the spirit of this Motion and talk more about equipping the existing facilities, especially now that we are devolving. I want to support Sen. Wetangula because he is alluding to the existing conditions. I think here we have done very well. Both the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader have spoken very well and we are all on one wave length; that first and foremost, we want facilities to be improved. We also want the staff working in these hospitals to know that this is our country and they must look after the patients. This is so important. The devolution that we have been talking about in the last two weeks must also be given a chance with respect to health facilities. The other day the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury announced that 30 nurses will be recruited for every constituency, and I said that that was not his role. That is the role of the Governor and his County Government. So, if we have devolved health services, what business does the Ministry of Health have in recruiting nurses for counties when governors are there and 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."
}