Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 725281,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/725281/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 168,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Chea",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1694,
        "legal_name": "Mwinga Gunga Chea",
        "slug": "mwinga-gunga-chea"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for this opportunity. I rise to support the Clinical Officers (Training, Registration and Licensing) Bill, 2016. I equally take this early opportunity to thank and congratulate Hon. Sang with whom we sit in the Departmental Committee on Health for having thought about this Bill which he has brought to this august House for debate. As we are all aware, we passed the Constitution on 27th August, 2010. We have always referred to it as the new constitutional dispensation. This is the Constitution in which the question of health has seriously been dealt with. In my opinion, I believe health is a shared function. There are specific functions that have been set out for both the national Government and the county government. The people we represent, under Article 95 of our Constitution, care less on whether health is a function for the national Government or the county governments. They are demanding for services. I believe this Bill is very important and it has come at an appropriate time. Once we realise that healthcare in this country has been taken for granted, we will also realise that there is nothing much coming from the national Government or county governments. This Bill will probably provide an opportunity to ensure that there is prudent provision of healthcare services to the common mwananchi. Most importantly, it will create a conducive environment for the clinical officers to discharge their functions. As we debate this Bill, I want to proceed and handle probably two or three aspects. The first aspect I want to handle is the question of training of clinical officers. The Mover, Hon. Sang, has indicated that in the Clinical Officers’ Website today, we are talking about there being only 19,957 clinical officers. If you compare this number to the population of Kenya of over 40 million people, you will realise that this is a drop in the ocean. If that is the case, we desire to have a council, under Clause 3 whose functions are given under Clause 5 that will take seriously the question of training. If you look at Clause 5, you will find that the Council has been given a number of functions. If you read clauses 5 and 13, you will also realise that for any training institution to be established, there is need for it to be approved. It is the core function of the Council to do that job. This is paramount because we live at a time when almost everybody is doing business. You will realise anybody can wake up one morning and decide to put up a facility and purport to train clinical officers. We will have a Council that will have to approve any institution that desires to offer training in this particular field. This is a very progressive idea. The Council has been given 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."
}