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{
    "id": 682921,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/682921/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 127,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Njuki",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1372,
        "legal_name": "Onesmus Muthomi Njuki",
        "slug": "onesmus-muthomi-njuki"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. A lot has been said on this Bill. I thank you for the opportunity to add my voice on the Biomedical Engineers Bill, 2015. There is a famous saying “As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout”. The Jubilee Government has done a fantastic job after realising that some diseases that kill our people are not because they cannot be treated but because they did not have the correct diagnosis and medical equipment to treat them. In reference to the quote I have made earlier on, there is nothing as bad as having a wrong diagnosis and yet the technology is there. We are living in an era of technology. There is nothing as bad as having malfunctioning technology being used on treatment of patients. There is nothing as bad as having wrong calibration machines because we do not have personnel to handle them. As much as the Jubilee Government has put in place leasing of the equipment, that is an effort in futility if we do not have personnel with equipped technology to handle those machines. This Bill will address the gap between those who think they know and those who are actually trained to use the new technology to handle the machines. Counties are supposed to provide personnel to handle the machines that were given by the Jubilee Government. However, they have a very big handicap in that even when they advertise for these jobs, the experts are hardly available. You will find that we have scarcity most of the time. This is because we have very few people who are qualified in this area and the few who are available are overworked. You may find a whole referral hospital having one technician for the anaesthetic machine. If that person goes on leave, it means that that machine cannot be serviced and if it has a problem, it cannot be used. There is a serious problem in what Hon. Duale tried to explain is happening in the counties. In particular, there are few counties, including mine, which have not taken heed in making sure they use these machines. Five months down the line after the equipment was delivered by the Jubilee Government, the machines are still in the stores. This is because these machines need adequate power. We are talking about the Three Phase power connection to run some of these machines. For Chuka Referral Hospital which is the County Referral Hospital for Tharaka Nithi, you will find the machines are still in the cartons. This is because the hospital does not have a generator. You need a Three Phase power generator to run that equipment. What justice are we doing to our people when the Jubilee Government has already delivered the machines but they are not in use? Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, just in case you are thinking this is hearsay, there was news of anaesthetic machines being stolen from Chuka Hospital a few months ago. It was stolen because it was not being used. It was still well-packed in a carton in the store in a maternity room. Maybe, it was waiting to be used one day and it was very easy for the thief to just pick it. Incidentally, because the suspect was caught, it happened that it was the technician who is employed to handle those machines. He is the one who took it to his private clinic. So, you can see what we are putting the Government through and there is need to have a framework on this."
}