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{
    "id": 682904,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/682904/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 110,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Dr.) Nyikal",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 434,
        "legal_name": "James Nyikal",
        "slug": "james-nyikal"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this Bill. I rise to support this Bill. As I do so, there are issues that I would like to raise upfront. First, we are dealing with engineers who practise in the health fields. There will be need to have some kind of link with the Engineering Act because at the degree level, these people will be engineers. That is something we need to look at. Secondly, issues have been raised that we have created many of these bodies in the health sector. That is true. As the Departmental Committee on Health, we have noted this and in the Health Bill that will be tabled, we have proposed a council that should amalgamate all these bodies so that we have a single regulatory mechanism to avoid duplication. Having said that, it is important that we have this cadre regulated because healthcare is heavily dependent on technology. Looking at the area of diagnostics and finding out what the problems are, if you go to any laboratory, you will find that all those machines that test blood and urine are equipment that need to be maintained from time to time. If you go to the radiology department where you find X-ray machines, Computed Tomography (CT) scan machines and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines, you will find that they are very sophisticated machines that need very qualified people to operate them. Even in treatment, if you go to theatre you will find anaesthetic machines, monitors and machines that support surgery. Some surgery is done by use of machines. This is equipment that needs to be maintained. If you go to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) you will find ventilators and monitors and all these need to be maintained. All the equipment used in cancer treatment for radiation therapy and radiotherapy in medicine are machines. It is important that we have a cadre of staff that will help us use those machines. Whenever there is a machine in a health institution, there are two kinds of cadres that are needed. We have the medical people that use the machine on a daily basis, the nurses, doctors and radiologists, and the technical people that maintain and repair those machines. If the machines are not maintained and repaired and they are faulty, the outcome is catastrophic. The machines can let the medical staff down. It is important to have biomedical engineering practitioners both at the certificate, diploma and degree levels regulated. This should start with their training, the requirement for admission into their training, the curriculum for their training, the internship they undergo after the training and their registration so that we do not have people walking around purporting to be biomedical engineers or technicians. That needs to be done."
}