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{
    "id": 618455,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/618455/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 247,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Mule",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2321,
        "legal_name": "Stephen Mutinda Mule",
        "slug": "stephen-mutinda-mule"
    },
    "content": "Committee on Health has prepared, which should be coming to the Floor of the House very soon, and make sure that most of the issues which have been brought to the Health Committee, where I also serve, are captured in this Bill. As a Committee, we have looked at all the aspects which have been raised by the Ministry and the Kenya engineering professionals and we are going to input them on the Bill. The Bill clearly spells out the functions of the board on Clause 6(a) all the way to (v). The Board will try and streamline professionalism in this sector. If we have quacks handling medical equipment in hospitals--- For instance, in the paediatric field where my colleague, Prof. Nyikal, is a professional, mothers in this country can be giving birth to babies. But if the incubators are not well calibrated, the incubators can start affecting those kids and then we can start losing lives. We seriously need to ensure that we have qualified personnel. For instance, if an engineer is installing an x-ray machine, there are certain thresholds of the x-rays which he should not be exposed to because he can get cancer. If you look at the powers vested in the Board, it is clear that they will ensure that biomedical engineers are squarely accountable for what they do in the profession. We propose to appoint a registrar and give the functions. He or she will be an ex-officio member of the Board. This will make sure that he or she will go to the depth because we are talking of a limited number of people or professionals in the world who are supposed to install equipment locally. As a Committee, we sat down and Part III of the Bill deals with the training and registration of biomedical engineers. I know the Committee will be moving some amendments to this section, which I do not oppose. That is because we need to have institutions which we are very sure are properly training biomedical engineers. If you have an institution which cannot even afford microscope training for a biomedical engineer, we are doomed. We have institutions which purport to train biomedical engineers and yet in their curriculum, they have no clue of the criteria they need to use. From the input by the Ministry of Health and the Departmental Committee on Health, we have come up with very clear amendments to this section to make sure that the Bill is aligned to the Education Act. The Ministry has given its input. Clause 14 of the Bill provides for the persons eligible to be registered as biomedical engineers. Because of lack of colleges to train biomedical engineers, we do not want to make a law which will block the young boys and young girls in this country who will do certificate, diploma, and advanced courses in Europe. They will definitely qualify with degrees from the colleges and universities which have started. Part IV of the Bill provides that once a person obtains a certificate, diploma or degree, the person has to apply to the registrar of the Biomedical Engineers Board, through the association, for him or her to be registered. That will make sure that we do not have people coming through the backdoor and masquerading as biomedical engineers. We are also providing a very clear guideline in the same Part on how to engage the Board and how to look at the qualifications of the young Kenyans who will be getting into that field. We are also looking at the qualifications for registration and consultancy within the biomedical engineering field. As we speak, I have seen so many adverts for construction of cancer centres in this country. One such advert was put in the newspapers this week by the Ministry of Health. The advert is clear that for a contractor to qualify for the job, he or she must show evidence in the bid that he or she is a qualified biomedical engineer. You must show proof that you are working with a biomedical engineer to put up the biosafety and catheterisation laboratories. 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."
}