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{
    "id": 882861,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/882861/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 101,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Wilberforce Oundo",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13331,
        "legal_name": "Wilberforce Ojiambo Oundo",
        "slug": "wilberforce-ojiambo-oundo-2"
    },
    "content": "contribution in respect of NHIF where “H” changed from “Hospital” to “Health”. This is a timely change, because when you talk about “hospital”, the only thing that crosses people’s mind is medication and nothing else. But the word “health” seems to incorporate a number of issues. So, those changes are necessary. When you go to the “Fund”, there are provisions that allow for the fund to be contribution under Section 15 where employer’s contribution matches the employee’s contribution. I do believe with the Universal Healthcare, the fund provided for under the Sports Act and Social Development Fund will also be used in respect of this particular fund. There are quite a number of amendments that probably – one of the most serious amendments that we might have to relook at is appearing in Section 30(1) where it says that the board may negotiate and enter into contracts with oversees specialised healthcare providers for specialised professional treatment not available in the country. As a country, we should not even be imagining of this kind of arrangement. As a country we must look at systems where we can improve our healthcare to a certain point that we would not need external assistance or external referrals. As a premier country in Africa and as a country that aspires to be First World, we must continuously invest in healthcare system so that we can start attracting medical tourism as happens in India and elsewhere. The amendments being made to Section 36 are increasing the administration expenses to a whopping 15 per cent which is unprecedented. This is because in many circumstances, management expenses should hoover around 3 to 5 per cent. By increasing it to 15 per cent, you are basically creating an extremely big organisation that opens room for misuse and misappropriation of the funds that could be used for purposes of providing healthcare to most deserving Kenyans. My attention has also been drawn to the Statistics Act, and I want to specifically make a comment in respect to the qualifications of the person to occupy the position of the CEO or Director-General. There is an expression that provides that “delete the expression of “an advanced degree in a relevant field” as specified in Section 3 and substitute therefor the expression “a degree in statistics, economics, demography or mathematics”. At the most appropriate time, we need to move an amendment to make it necessary that the person being appointed to head the organisation must demonstrate ability and a track record in research, conceiving and conceptualising a research problem, undertaking research, collecting data, analysing the data and presenting research findings."
}