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{
    "id": 596865,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/596865/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 258,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Nyasuna",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 590,
        "legal_name": "Gladys Atieno Nyasuna",
        "slug": "gladys-atieno-nyasuna"
    },
    "content": "Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this very important Bill. We are discussing the Health Bill. This Bill has been very long in coming. We have waited for it for a long time. At some point, we heard that it was lost and nobody could trace it. As days went by, more and more confusion prevailed in the health sector in this country. So, we are very happy to have the Health Bill being debated on the Floor of this House. A nation can only prosper if its people are healthy. So, as the representatives of the people, it is incumbent upon us to ensure this. Key challenges face the health sector. There is low access, prohibitive costs and poor quality healthcare. As a health management professional, I know that the first step is a health policy. This is what we are doing through this Bill. Then we look at the issue of health financing, health access and quality. Before I get into the Bill, I must say that it should disturb us that today this country spends less on healthcare as a percentage of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) than we did in the year 2001 or 2002. It must disturb us. The distance we are from the Abuja Declaration is long. We are at 5 per cent and yet, the Abuja Declaration is at 15 per cent. The global average spending on healthcare is 9 per cent. These are the issues that we must be thinking about as we debate the Health Bill. The issue of health financing, particularly, must be looked at seriously and whether the National Hospital insurance Fund (NHIF) as it is currently constituted is what is going to take us to the universal health coverage that we require. We must look at how efficient the NHIF is. It is now spending much more on administration. Financial sustainability of NHIF itself is wanting. For us to pay for healthcare in this country, we must take bold steps. What the Health Committee must lead us in reflecting on is this: Is it going to be this Parliament that takes that bold step? Are we going to leave it to a future Parliament? There must be radical steps in any breakthrough. Therefore, the decision is upon us whether we will be taking radical step or we will leave it to another Parliament. I am happy that the Bill makes progress in actualising the right to reproductive health and emergency treatment."
}