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{
    "id": 596919,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/596919/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 312,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Waiganjo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2644,
        "legal_name": "John Muriithi Waiganjo",
        "slug": "john-muriithi-waiganjo"
    },
    "content": "Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to support the Health Bill. We have been expecting this Bill for a long time. It has now come at the right time when our country is experiencing a lot of issues concerning health, particularly when the two levels of government are grappling with issue of devolution. The transfer of functions from the national Government to the county government was done under pressure. I am aware that the devolution of the health function was called for by the Council of Governors. They were really passionate about that function. Therefore, the national Government gave in to pressure and released that function to the counties. The problems we find ourselves in today are political problems, in the first instance, because had the national Government insisted on retaining the health function at the national level, we would not be having those problems. This is a good Bill. The only problem with this Bill is that it has certain provisions that appear to contradict the express provisions of the Constitution. Therefore, even as we pass this Bill, we need to be fully aware that it requires certain amendments so that it does not contradict the Constitution. We have many other sectors that would have been devolved as functions, and particularly this one. There was a way that the function of health would have been partially devolved. For instance, they would have devolved certain functions that do not necessarily require heavy equipment and retain others at the national level. We probably would have waited to build more hospitals, particularly Level 4 and Level 5 hospitals. We needed to train more personnel. We also needed to consult healthcare professionals, including doctors before we devolved those functions. The other egocentric mentality is that the governors themselves do not want to concede that some of their counties are not able to handle healthcare. It is very easy. It is in the Constitution that as a county, you can revert some of the functions back to the national Government. Similarly, you can choose which ones to retain and which ones to revert back to the national Government. However, this stand-off between the national Government and the county government does not really help. At the end of the day, it is Kenyans who are suffering. We have seen many deaths. The ones we are talking about here are the ones that have been captured by the media. We obviously know that other than road accidents which occur frequently in this country, we have many other medical conditions that go unnoticed, particularly with regard to child-birth. We know of mothers who have no access to free public facilities. They end up getting their babies at home. In the end mothers lose their babies or both lose their lives. Our private practitioners do not take in patients who do not pay. There are two ways of looking at this - and this is why this Bill is very important. We would want to see a situation where this law also proposes serious fines and sanctions to private practitioners who refuse to give first-aid for instance, to accident victims or expectant mothers. You cannot put commercial interests first and avoid responsibility. Of course, there is what you can call the duty of care, which is not necessarily mandated by law. If you refuse to exercise the duty of care, it does not necessarily mean that you have broken the law. For instance, if you are passing by a dam and somebody is drowning, the law does not compel you to save that person, but it is upon you to exercise the duty of care to save that person. So, morality and law do not necessarily go pari passu . However, we want to penalise public and private institutions which refuse to exercise the duty of care regardless of whether the patient has money or not. 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."
}