Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 788721,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/788721/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 262,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Lesuuda",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13122,
        "legal_name": "Naisula Lesuuda",
        "slug": "naisula-lesuuda"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for this opportunity to contribute to this important Motion. I also congratulate the Member for Laikipia County for bringing it before this House. I will also take into consideration your directive and be very brief, since most of my colleagues have contributed to this Motion. We all know that if you do not have cancer, then you are most likely affected by it via a family member, friend, colleague or somebody around you. It is also a disease that we know that not only leaves a lot of pain, but it also impoverishes. It leaves families very poor. They use all the resources that they have to make sure that they treat their family member. By the time they lose that family member, they have been left with almost nothing. That is why it is important as a country we realise that this is a pandemic that is with us and we must put in place measures to make sure that we cushion the people of Kenya from the adverse effects of this disease. I just want to talk about one issue: universal health coverage. Most of our constituents are either not aware of NHIF, or others are aware but they are not able to pay. Others are aware, they have part of the money, but cannot pay. As a Government, even as we focus on universal healthcare and universal health coverage, we should also start with those who are having long- term illnesses so that we can ensure we take off the burden from the families. The second thing is to ensure that our hospitals are not only equipped, but also... We know that most counties, through partnership with the national government, ensured that they got machines for screening and treatment, but we lack expertise. Doctors who can do chemotherapy and radiotherapy are so few. That is why hospitals like KNH are overwhelmed. It is important that the county governments and the national government ensure that we have specialists who can operate the equipment to ensure that we avoid a lot of challenges in terms of travelling all the way to referral hospitals, most importantly to KNH, to access treatment. Just to add something on the issue of treatment, it is important that we start talking to our people on prevention. It is so interesting that nowadays you may find cancer in a person whose lineage has never had cancer. It also does not choose. We have very young babies affected. It must be that it is caused by what we are eating, what we are exposed to and other environmental problems. So, we must put in some effort in terms of research to ensure that we know and we share the information we have with members of the public so that they can be helped on prevention. To conclude, so that I give time to my colleagues, the other issue is to see to it that we have hospices to relieve the pain of patients and to ensure that we give them enough care even towards their last days. We do hope that it will not just be about talk or declaring it a national The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}