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{
    "id": 90156,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/90156/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 426,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Chanzu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 11,
        "legal_name": "Yusuf Kifuma Chanzu",
        "slug": "yusuf-chanzu"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir for giving me the chance to support the Vote of the Ministry of Medical Services. If I was the Minister for Finance or the PS, I would have taken the page where we have put the guillotine procedure, I would not have looked at all of it, but I would have taken the figure of Kshs12 million which is under Vote 8. I would have closed my eyes and given it to the Ministry of Medical Services. When you compare the Kshs23 billion that has been allocated to the Ministry of State for Defence with Kshs12 million that has been allocated to the Ministry of Medical Services, you do not understand how they work out those figures. If we had a sick nation, we would not have people work even in the Ministry of State for Defence. I hope they will take this into account when they will be doing the Supplementary Estimates or next year’s Budget. The greatest achievement we have made in the new Constitution is where we have fixed the Ministries to be between 14 and 22. I think that is a great thing for this country. When a Ministry is split, it is very difficult to understand how it works. The only thing that the proposed Constitution did not do is to fix the Ministries the way they should be. I hope we can put these Ministries together. For example, we can merge the Ministry of Medical Services with that of Public Health and Sanitation. When you go to the constituencies, you will find a different person dealing with dispensaries and another one dealing with clinics. Things have been very chaotic and I hope this will be corrected. I do not know what the Minister will do with private chemists. I hope the Minister continues to stay in the Ministry. I had a problem one time where some people were bitten by wild dogs. We were not able to get medicine at Vihiga District Hospital. But we were able to get medicine from a private clinic. I had to negotiate because the drugs were costing about Kshs8,000 per person. I had eight people who had been bitten. That was going to cost me Kshs64,000 from my pocket. I had to negotiate with the private clinic’s owner and convince him that when we get suppliers in the Government, we would--- That would not work anyway. We must have drugs in our hospitals. The drugs are there, but I believe they are taken to some places. That is why you find chemists built very close to hospitals. That way, when you have got a problem, you have no choice but to go to the private pharmacy. I want to support what the Minister was saying yesterday about the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF). That is something that was started a long time ago, but it was “killed” by the same Government. I am happy that it has been re- introduced. The only thing people are worried about is how the funds will be managed. The people who go competing for jobs like that of Chief Executive Officer do not do so because they want to manage the Fund well. They do so because they think it is lucrative."
}