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{
    "id": 596856,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/596856/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 249,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. F.K. Wanyonyi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2065,
        "legal_name": "Ferdinard Kevin Wanyonyi",
        "slug": "ferdinard-kevin-wanyonyi"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. You have always been kind. What he is saying is important. During emergency cases, this Bill says that the first hospital you get to is the first contact that should stabilise the condition of patients. That dispensary or hospital will take care of that person as one awaits medical help. It is wrong for institutions to insist that they must be paid first before that help is given to a patient. This clause is very clear. Our brothers in the health services are saying that one must pay because one will be depriving that particular hospital or institution the right to get money. That is the point we are coming from. We have cases where Kenyans die because when they are taken to the nearest dispensary or hospital, they are first asked if they have money. I have a case where a lady almost died when she wanted to deliver. The first thing she was asked was to make a deposit. This is not medically ethical. It is true that it is business. Recently, I travelled to India, which is actually the second most populous country in the world. They have facilities that we actually admire. I was so impressed when I went to a hospital called Apollo. I am sure Hon. (Dr.) Nyikal knows about it. I was surprised one of the patients there comes from my constituency – and I pray that she gets better. I saw about 10 other Kenyan patients when I was in India two weeks ago. All of them were looking for medical services that could actually be provided here - only that our medical services are not subsidised. Therefore, you will find people leaving this country for other countries to look for medical care. India, which has billions of people, is able to provide social health services where health services are actually subsidised. We should do the same. This Bill should have come much earlier so that we lessen the burden being borne by our people. Our people are suffering and I think this Bill is going to cure that. Hon. (Dr.) Nyikal actually mentioned that devolution of the health services was done prematurely. We should have taken time to determine whether the county governments were prepared to take over that function. I can tell you for a fact that in my county, medical facilities are wanting. They are in a very bad state. For example, the situation is bad in a case where a patient lives far away from a referral hospital. As recent as two days ago, I had to transport a patient from Kitale, which is almost 70 kilometres away, to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret. The poor child died on the way. I am sure that could have been prevented if Level 5 hospitals were working. Emergency cases such as what I am talking about would have been handled at a Level 5 hospital in my county. So, those services were prematurely devolved. They would have taken time and the process would have been done gradually. If the counties were ready to have the services, we would have devolved those functions."
}