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{
    "id": 618499,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/618499/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 291,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Eng.) Gumbo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 24,
        "legal_name": "Nicholas Gumbo",
        "slug": "nicholas-gumbo"
    },
    "content": "The objectives of the Bill are noble. To that extent, it should be supported. Up to now, we have a lacuna in the sense that anybody who has an experience in the handling of medical equipment can come up and call him or herself a biomedical engineer. It is important to have a framework where we can make professionals in that field be accountable to the people they serve – who are the public – whether they are in private or public employment. We should have a framework for licensing, registration and making sure that only those who qualify can be called biomedical engineers. I would like to thank Hon. Mule. However, I have two concerns. I have noticed that, ultimately, biomedical engineers are engineers. We have seen this with the Engineering and Technicians Bill, which was moved by Hon. Cecilia Ngetich. I would urge my friend not to lose sight of that fact. As we regulate that field, we know that it has been a problem and the practice of engineering has been evolving. With some of the new universities coming up, we have had problems. In the olden days, engineering as we knew it was electrical, mechanical, civil and software engineering. We must accept that, that is now limiting. The world has moved and it is more complex. The demands of humanity are more complex and we must accept that we have the professions that we must accommodate within the profession of engineering. Ultimately, we will not have each of these units regulating themselves. I am happy with what has been observed. I would urge Hon. Mule to take into account that, as they constitute the board, they should give space for the Engineers Board of Kenya to put in a nominee so that we are more or less aware that we are building synergy. Ultimately, we are all working towards the same thing. Engineering is a highly specialized field. Before I came here, I had the opportunity to design burns units for Kenyatta National Hospital. You get some of the complex equipment coming into that unit because there are certain degrees of burns. I am not a doctor but Hon. Nyikal will tell you that to handle such equipment, you need specialization. When you talk of somebody getting burnt to the point of 90 degrees, you need specialized equipment. But we have had problems because of shortage of biomedical engineers and people who are competent enough to understand the equipment. Without this Bill, we could end up as dumping ground for substandard equipment. We will not have qualified people to advise us according to the law to assess and maintain the equipment. There are debates going on in the Departmental Committee on Health. I am sure that ultimately, the matter will come to the Public Accounts Committee as regards medical equipment deployed to the counties. The biggest problem we have been talking about is that we have bought equipment worth billions of shillings, but who is going to maintain it? Do we have the capacity at the county level? As we go about this Bill, we should propose an amendment as we did when we debated the Engineers Bill. Most people were surprised by what one does to qualify to be called an engineer. Right now, this country has about 2,000 engineers for a population of 45 million – a percentage which is inadequate. This Bill must aim to help with the training of more biomedical engineers. As Hon. Nyikal has observed, the problem I see Hon. Mule running into is that when the board is run based on subscription, there are no numbers. These things are done in the interest of Kenyans. Let us not be shy to ask the taxpayer to pay for something that is going to help the people of Kenya. At the end of the day, you will need a registrar and staff for the board, and people who will be going around making sure that those who call themselves biomedical engineers are trained and competent to offer that practice. All this will require resources. If you have 100 members and you charge Kshs10,000 per year, you will have Kshs1 million, which cannot help much. 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."
}