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{
    "id": 596898,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/596898/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 291,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "hospitals. In my County of Nyeri, we have the Level 5 Nyeri Hospital. It is the Nyeri Provincial General Hospital. It is a fairly big hospital and it serves not just Nyeri County, but also the surrounding counties. It serves Laikipia, Nyandarua, Murang’a, Kirinyaga and many other counties within Central Kenya. That particular hospital can then not be the burden of one county because the cost required to run it is quite high. I agree with the Bill that the regional referral hospitals or the 11 Level 5 hospitals should go back to the management of the national Government. These are regional referral hospitals and not per se county hospitals; they do not just serve the county where they are located. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, if you look at the allocation of money we get in Nyeri County, when this hospital is left to us, one of our biggest fears is that we might have to close it because we cannot run it to the level of services it is required to have. When that hospital goes back to the national Government, it will get equipment, resources, doctors and specialists like surgeons, who can then serve not just Nyeri County, but the cluster of counties around Nyeri. The future of our country is to have a Level 5 hospital in each and every county. Because we are not there yet and we do not have 47 county hospitals, the few 11 Level 5 hospitals we have should become regional referral hospitals in line with the Constitution. Once they become regional referral hospitals, all the referral hospitals are in the care, custody and management of the national Government. There is also need to look at the Level 4 hospitals. Sometimes, they are fairly big and well equipped. I regret that in my own county of Nyeri, we have Kieni Constituency which forms 52 per cent of the county, but does not have a Level 4 hospital. As we look at the distribution of hospitals, it would be advisable and admirable that in every constituency, we have a Level 4 hospital. Those Level 4 hospitals would also require the kind of attention and management that can only be offered by the national Government. The counties should only start handling the Level 3 hospitals, dispensaries and small health centres. Health is a critical function. By asking that these hospitals come back to national Government, we are not rolling back devolution. Devolution and service delivery have got to go together. When the hospitals are as big as what we have in the Level 5 hospitals, then they require being under the management of the national Government. I support this Bill and the many clauses it has covered. I pray that, as a House, we pass it and make sure we manage health in a better way. We need to manage this county in ways that the health of our people moves closer to the Abuja Declaration. I support more funding up to the tune of 15 per cent to healthcare services in our country."
}