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{
    "id": 448468,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/448468/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 269,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. S.S. Ahmed",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 140,
        "legal_name": "Ahmed Shakeel Shabbir Ahmed",
        "slug": "shakeel-shabbir"
    },
    "content": "At Independence, there were three main issues namely poverty, disease and ignorance. Poverty is still a national issue and is co-ordinated by the national Government. The issues of ignorance and education are still co-ordinated by the national Government. Diseases must still be co-ordinated by the national Government. You cannot have a situation where the national Government does the policy and the county government does the implementation. There is a big problem here. The Constitution says that this should be devolved – it should have been devolved over time. At this point in time our hospitals are on their knees. Our people are dying and all we are concerned about is the discretionary amounts. I strongly support the fact that the Ministry of Health must take back the health function and manage it up to the time when the county governments will show us that they can run hospitals. As I speak, they cannot even run health centres. We have health centres which we built with money from the CDF, yet the county governments cannot run them. The County of Kisumu has a fogging machine for malaria but it lies idle. We cannot even have the machine fog Kisumu for malaria. I think there is a big gap and mismatch. I hope that this House will find a way of us adopting this Report, so that we ask the national Government to take over this functions for a period of time. A baby is not born and then it starts running. Hon. Melly: Thank you, hon. Speaker. I would like to support the Motion. First of all, the health sector as currently run is in a paralysis. I want to note that as counties reorganize themselves to run this important sector, there are so many things that that they are not yet prepared to do. One is the issue of procurement of drugs. You will find that in all the hospitals, the MOHs were given the AIE by the central Government. Right now, the County Executives for Health are interfering with how drugs are supposed to be procured. There is also the issue where money from the CDF has been used to construct some health centres, but they neither have nurses nor drugs. They do not have water supplies, disposal units and even incinerators. The county governments are not prepared. The county governments are supposed to ensure that all the hospitals in the county, especially Level III and Level IV hospitals, which have maternity and theatre wings, are well stocked with drugs. However, doctors are not motivated enough. Many of them have resigned. They are being supervised by individuals who do not understand what the health system is, and what it means to be a health practitioner. The health sector ought to have been devolved in phases as per the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution. This is very important because the general hospitals would The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}