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{
    "id": 596703,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/596703/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 96,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Prof.) Nyikal",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 434,
        "legal_name": "James Nyikal",
        "slug": "james-nyikal"
    },
    "content": "At least every month we have a Bill brought in this House about the health sector. All these Bills stand singularly on their own. It is important that we have an overarching law that will actually oversee all of them. I am sure that is what this Bill is seeking to achieve. I have said something about devolution. Health has many systems that are in one: The human resource system, the commodity and supply system, the infrastructure and equipment system and the health financing system. All these systems have to be harmonised. It is not because of devolution that we have not been able to do this, it is because of the way we have implemented it. If we had gone the way we put in the law, we would have managed it. Hon. Speaker, if you look at the human resource system, no sector has so many cadres of human resource like health. No sector has so many commodities and supplies like the health sector. Each one is technically peculiar on its own. No sector has so many equipment which are so sensitive in terms of application to human health like the health sector. No system requires better and properly organised financing like the health sector. We, therefore, need policies, standards and co-ordination that must be adhered to the letter of the law. We are politicians and sometimes we think that where the majority are that is where the truth is. I dare say that in health, even if only one person is right, it is that one person whose idea will be taken. In the health sector, the law that the majority will have their way and the minority will have their say does not apply. Therefore, this Bill seeks to address how policy will be applied in a devolved system, how to come up with standards and ensure they are adhered to, and how to co-ordinate the system. This is something we must support. There are many other parts that we will have to look at during the Third Reading stage. I will give a few examples. The Bill has provided for the Health Professionals Oversight Authority in Part IV, Clause 27. If it was my wish we would have had a Health Services Commission, but given the way the Constitution is currently that is not possible. I think within the law and the framework of Intergovernmental Relations Act, we can still have these things. The Health Professionals Oversight Authority takes care of the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board, the Nursing Council, the public health officers, the occupational therapists and others. We can put them together under that. It also seeks to establish a single Health Technology and Products Authority. Again, we have had issues between the Nursing Council and the Pharmacy and Poisons Board. That is something we will have to look at. It seeks to establish a Health Research Committee. We need that because although medicine is universal, there are peculiarities that research will bring within our local environment. We need something that will bring information that is relevant to us. 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."
}