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    "id": 550804,
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    "content": "and, maybe, about 15,000 people with common mental disorders at any particular time of the year. We have concentrated a lot of our efforts in the treatment of communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, the HIV/AIDS scourge, malaria, cholera, measles and so on, but non-communicable diseases are a reality. In the text books that some of us read earlier when studying medicine, you would say a statement like “cardiac diseases are rare or non-existent in the black African community”. This is totally false, especially knowing that we had little research and no proper diagnostic facilities to give a proper diagnostic preference. The truth is that we see a lot of cardiac diseases now that our facilities have improved. Indeed, this is a major killer even for Members of Parliament now. Therefore, dementia has to be looked at. It does not have to be a full-blown dementia. Even if you took a medical assessment of all the Members of Parliament from the ages of 30 years, you will find early degrees of dementia in some of the normal appearing characters. Madness is not necessarily there, it is just the degree of madness and the community from which you come from that will dictate whether you are defined as mad or not. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, if you go to the Maasai Community where you come from, madness may be described as bravado, where you decide to go to hunt for a lion for no reason at all. In some other communities that might be defined as madness. So, it depends on where you come from, your social structure, beliefs to really define what madness is all about. Some cases of dementia may be looked at in the society as; “Oh! My grandfather forgets these things.” It just stops there, and you think it is normal. Some of these people could live well with early intervention. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, my prayer is very basic and simple. This is not even a county Motion. Give us that leeway; that fulcrum; support us, so that we can come up with a proper legislative sort of form to mainstream and enhance care of patients with dementia. Further, to order the Committee that this report be submitted in this House within 90 days."
}