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{
    "id": 787226,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/787226/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 212,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Alfred Keter",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2514,
        "legal_name": "Alfred Kiptoo Keter",
        "slug": "alfred-kiptoo-keter"
    },
    "content": "facilities that are meant to address healthcare issues. Assuming that replacing a CEO or the entire board will change KNH is very backward. The main reason that KNH is in its state is because it is underfunded. You cannot believe the cartels that run those hospitals. There are so many. The cartels that benefit from the mismanagement of most of those hospitals are the ones who, if we do not watch out, will have their people sitting in those positions. The issues are not as a result of a few individuals. The main issue with KNH - like any other referral hospital - is underfunding. It is known to all of us, as Members of Parliament. I was in the 11th Parliament and in most cases, there was no time I saw the Chair, the Vice-Chair and Members of the Departmental Committee on Health support the budget because it addressed healthcare issues. It is high time we addressed the issue of whether the health function should remain a devolved function or should be brought back to the national Government because that is part of the confusion. The monies that we take to the county governments are not enough to even run one county referral hospital. We have to address this issue in a sober manner. We need to take a lot of time. It is unfortunate that the Members of the Departmental Committee on Health - who I support and believe in - did not take enough time. There was no need to rush so as to arrive at conclusions that will victimise individuals rather than be supportive to the system. If you take a holistic approach, you have to address issues from policy implementation and management from the ministry level to a specific parastatal like KNH and other referral hospitals. You cannot just come up with a report in two weeks – a report that is full of generalisations on how the issues facing KNH should be addressed. It is very unfortunate. Some of us felt that we should amend the Report. We shared our views with some Members and they wondered what we should amend and what we should leave intact. Let me thank the Leader of the Majority Party, Hon. Duale, for proposing some amendments. There are so many other amendments that we should bring onboard so that we ensure that this Report sees the light of day. The Report fails with regard to issues of security, recommending that the board be disbanded and that the CEO and the management be replaced. The Committee should elaborate the issues facing the health sector because it is not just about KNH, like most people have said. All the referral hospitals are failing at a high rate. I have seen four or five accident patients in one hospital bed. Some have spinal injuries and others have issues whereby they cannot share a bed with two or three other patients. Those are the challenges that patients face in most of the hospitals. I want to be on record as having opposed this Report because it will mislead us into thinking that some individuals are responsible for the mess that we see in most of those hospitals. It is not about those individuals. It is about a system that has failed. We need to address those issues from the ministry level to the parastatal level, where KNH is one of the key hospitals. We must also address the issue of health being a devolved function. Where should it lie?"
}