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{
    "id": 707621,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/707621/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 113,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Kipyegon",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1453,
        "legal_name": "Johana Ngeno Kipyegon",
        "slug": "johana-ngeno-kipyegon"
    },
    "content": "proper treatment in the hospitals run by the national Government. You will be shocked that in some of the hospitals run by the counties, patients cannot get treatment. It is high time we looked at health services. This Bill discusses the inter-relations between both levels of Government in terms of health and that is a good thing. The training of nurses and doctors is still done by the national Government. However, these people are the ones going to work for the county governments. Therefore, there must be that close relationship so that both sides can work in a harmonious way. This Bill has come in handy. Before I finish, I just wish to caution that whoever offers services in county hospitals must ensure that the service is rendered well to the people. We must avoid cases where some people are taken to hospitals---We have agreed that medical services are free especially the maternity services. The problem we have is that even if maternity services are free, we cannot even find those particular services in most hospitals in the counties. It could only be one or two hospitals where you would find free maternity service. So, even if you made maternity service free, you need to ensure that the relevant facilities exist so that people can enjoy those services. There are cases where people have to deposit money so that they can be treated. There are so many who die before they get treated because they do not have money to deposit. We need to make medical care free. We need to have a situation whereby people are treated as is envisaged in the Constitution. It states that we must access medical service regardless of whether one has money or not. The issue of payment should come secondary, that is, after the patient has been treated. We should not turn our health services into a private affair. There is also another situation where patients who have been treated are detained in hospital simply because they are unable to pay their medical bill. This country must understand that three-quarters of Kenyans live below the poverty line. There are people in this country who cannot afford food and so when they get sick and they go to hospital and they are told to pay, say, Kshs100,000, that is ridiculous! Such a person does not have land, cows, or a salary that he or she can use to pay that kind of money. We need to ensure that every citizen who gets services from Government facilities is released regardless of whether they have money or not. We cannot hold our people to ransom just because they do not have money. That situation is even worse when somebody dies in hospital. We have several cases in most of the government-run health facilities where people die and the bodies are detained in the mortuary. The hospital declines to release the bodies of the deceased persons to relatives simply because the medical bill has not been sorted. Really, why do you mistreat your citizens? How can we do that to our citizens? We must have a situation whereby after patients have been treated and are good to go home, they are released and a way of recovering the money is sought. When somebody has died, we must release the body to the relatives so that they can go and bury as a way of recovering the money is sought. I would like to talk about NHIF. This is something that has been bothering our country. We must thank the Jubilee Government for the small token they have released to the elderly people of this country who are aged between 85 years and 95 years. However, we must ensure that we provide NHIF services to persons aged 65 years and above. These are the people who were building this nation by rendering services for so many years. These are people who should be eating bonuses from the Government. Why can we not allow them to enjoy the NHIF services? It is not expensive. We must have a policy that ensures that any man or woman who is above 65 years old is covered by the Government because this is the Government they have been working for. These are the people who have sons and daughters who are working for the 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."
}