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{
    "id": 449019,
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    "content": "we can look at some of the key statutes that need to be amended and aligned to the Constitution. This is because of the many challenges that we have seen in devolution. Madam Temporary Speaker, coming directly to the statutes that have been mentioned here, we have the Cancer Prevention and Control Act No.15 of 2012. The greatest killer of mankind now, as we have been told, is from cancer related sicknesses. The Committee sat and decided that we need to also share this role, noting that the Fourth Schedule has transferred a lot of medical functions to the county governments. The National Cancer Institute still falls within the functions of the National Governments, but we need the national Government to share and work so much closely with the county governments. Madam Temporary Speaker, a number of our people are ferried to very expensive hospitals outside Kenya. India, for example, is the latest destination because it is slightly cheaper when it comes to the treatment of cancer related diseases. Many deaths have occurred as result of cancer related diseases. Therefore, this means that we need to have the national Government working with the county governments to identify some of the county hospitals that really need to be centres of excellence when it comes to the management and treatment of cancer. If need be, we need to consider what was presented here as a Motion by Sen. (Prof.) Lesan, where we do not need expert consultants physically in the hospitals. They can consult and assist in the treatment of patients in those county hospitals through first optic cable connectivity. This, therefore, means that we need to have experts as well. Madam Temporary Speaker, since the Bill talks about the two levels of Government working together, every county must identify specialists. We may go further and send some of them for intensive training, like I am told it happens in some developed countries. They identify brilliant people and give them full scholarships to study in top universities or hospitals in the world. Those people then go back and work for their countries and they are paid well, so that they do not go away. In Kenya, for example, we do not have laws that are very stringent. Many people are actually assisting other countries. We have not really strengthened our human resource capacity. There is nothing that is equivalent to good health. There is nothing we can do; just as we are talking about education and roads, but the number one priority should be our health. What will our people eat? We do not know what the cost of cancer is, but we now hear that it has increased from what it used to be. So, a lot of these things need to be identified; for example, is it related to the foods that we eat, and so on? Madam Temporary Speaker, I want to laud the Committee for addressing this issue at the very early stages of devolution so that every county can pay special attention to the same. We may not be able to have every county hospital specializing in this; but we can have regional hospitals that are dedicated, like Level 5 or referral hospitals or even the former provincial hospitals because of the amount required to upgrade facilities to have a hospital running cancer treatment centres. Madam Temporary Speaker, they have talked about the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) (No.33) Act of 2012. This is another area where we have been reading almost every day about accidents happening in our roads and we only see reactionary measures being taken by the officers in charge. One hot spot or they call it 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."
}