Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 596896,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/596896/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 289,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "We continue to see many instances where citizens and Kenyans are not given emergency treatment by our hospitals. I speak as somebody who has attended a funeral of a parent who should have been admitted to hospital because she was sick with pneumonia, but the hospital released her. I have attended a funeral of a cousin who delivered a baby and the hospital asked her if she had money for admission. Because she did not have money for admission, the hospital sent her home. A mother was sent home just two hours after she has delivered a baby simply because she has no money to pay for admission. It is those kinds of instances that this law seeks to cure. Kenyans are entitled to emergency treatment. Once somebody needs emergency treatment, the question of money cannot be brought at a time when we need to give emergency treatment. We know many instances of people who have needed emergency treatment and our doctors and hospitals have put money, finances and medical cards ahead of treating and rescuing life. I keep on wondering what the Hippocratic Oath means when you, as a doctor, swear that you are going to protect life. It means exactly that! Your first duty must be to protect the lives of our citizens. I hope the law is going to create the necessary penalties, sanctions and regulate not just public hospitals, but also private hospitals. Emergency treatment in this country must be just that. We continue to bury many boda boda accident victims. When a boda boda has an accident--- I hear many hospitals have opened a ward in which they put no beds and no emergency treatment. They call it the boda boda ward. Most of those boda boda victims, many a times, bleed to death. Many times, they do not receive the quick attention they need for them to be saved. With this law, we hope the country gets to the point that emergency treatment is a must for every citizen. Every citizen, wherever they may be or wherever they could be, if they are entitled to emergency treatment, it should be administered. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, we will be looking at the funding available and ensure that hospitals and clinics are able to give emergency treatment. To our doctors, be they private or public, emergency treatment should be something they must all get accustomed to. Money, medical cards and deposits should not be one of the things that doctors should look into. I remember a sad case of a friend who was shot in his house after a burglary or a robbery. After the shooting, the wife was strong, lucky enough. She put the husband in the car and drove like a mad woman to the nearest hospital. She got there, but the husband was bleeding. She was hysterical and was left to watch the husband in a very poor state of health. You will not believe that a very big hospital in this country asked that poor wife to give a deposit of Kshs100,000. The wife begged that she would bring the money in the morning. It was about 3 a.m. in the night, and nobody would be able to raise Kshs100,000. She begged that they admit and give him emergency treatment because she would bring the money in the morning. They had to go to another hospital because that particular hospital did not agree. It would not even allow them the loan for a night to bring Kshs100,000 in the morning. With this law, those are the hospitals we do not want to hear of. Those are the hospitals we think will get the message of this Assembly, that emergency treatment is something you have to give. The lives of our citizens have to come before money, deposits and any of those other things that they keep on asking for. If you look at the constitutional framework, the question of reproductive health is well covered. The Bill has also addressed the question of reproductive healthcare. As a Member of Parliament for Nyeri County, I hope the law will look at the question of the regional referral 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."
}