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{
    "id": 813218,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/813218/?format=api",
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    "content": "in the whole country which deals with psychiatric related diseases. This is appalling. Where are these centres located? Most of them are located in the urban centres. For example, Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital is in Nairobi. This indicates that many of the people in the rural areas will not be able to access such centres. With a population over 45 million people, we only have 25 psychiatric doctors. It is sad that 25 to 40 per cent of the population suffers from mental illness. It is a major challenge to this country because it had been neglected for a long time. It now 54 years since our country attained Independence, but we have not done much on this area. We started by getting rid of poverty, ignorance as well as diseases, but we have not fully succeeded. We are still talking about lack of enough facilities in the counties to take care of health issues. From these statistics we are even informed that five to six Kenyans normally never access treatment because psychiatric cases at times can be violent cases. As my colleagues have mentioned, some psychiatric cases are attributed to witchcraft and are treated by soothsayers. Although Kenya has a big problem in terms of health issues, devolving the health sector without providing facilities, medicines and medical personnel will not help much. When it comes to psychiatric cases, it becomes a major challenge and a great nightmare for this country. I have just come from a meeting today where I was told that before we are able to achieve affordable healthcare we have to ensure that we get the actual data of the number of doctors and nurses in this country. That begs the question; if we are not sure right now of whether we have a sufficient number of healthcare workers that means we are very far away from achieving the pillar of affordable healthcare. While other diseases may be caused by bacteria and viruses, psychiatric diseases and mental diseases are normally caused by issues of depression and stress. We, as politicians, also require psychiatric treatment at times. Immediately after the nominations in 2017, we had somebody who went into depression for two weeks, suddenly collapsed and died. That is a clear pointer that psychiatric condition is a major killer of people in this country. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I was coming from a meeting where I was told that there are 10 million youth that are unemployed right now. They can easily resort in taking drugs and other substances. If somebody continues to abuse drugs and substances for many years, he ends up having mental illnesses. In addition to that, universities are churning out many graduates who are not absorbed by the job market. When they do not get employment, they become very good candidates for psychosomatic illnesses. It is time for Kenya to look for more solutions to reduce poverty by providing jobs for our youth and affordable healthcare for every Kenyan, because it is a basic right for all. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this Motion will ensure that we have at least one centre in the counties. The people who are not able to access facilities in cities or large centres will now access psychiatrists with ease and get treated. As my colleagues have said, this is one of the diseases that should be treated free of charge. This is because, as we have been told, everyone suffers from some form of a psychiatric disease. With those few points, I support and say that the establishment of psychosocial centres and mental health centres in counties is long overdue. The Government should The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}