Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 905822,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/905822/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 283,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Langat",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13189,
        "legal_name": "Christopher Andrew Langat",
        "slug": "christopher-andrew-langat"
    },
    "content": "I am happy about the Clause that expounds on creating awareness. I am sure awareness includes enabling citizens to know that such people have a right to live and treated. They should not be stigmatised and be ashamed of. When you go to many villages, such people are associated with curses and superstition. More often than not, they are taken for treatment and handled crudely by magicians, witchdoctors and so on. People have not been made to understand that this disease is just like any other disease and someone can be taken to hospital and be treated. This Bill has provided a strong linkage between the functions of the national Government and the county government. The Bill has highlighted hospitals that will be taking care of people with mental health problems. Those hospitals shall have particular standards. I once visited Mathari Hospital and the mental health hospital in Nakuru. I realised that there is great variation in terms of how mentally ill patients are taken care of, especially when it comes to the number of doctors and nurses. We should expand our medical training programmes so as to have a course that will train nurses who will handle these people. We should have the right statistics of people suffering from mental illnesses to avoid guess work as Sen. M. Kajwang’ said. He said that statistics state that out of every four people, one of them has a mental issue. I do hope that I am not one of them because people will not take me seriously. This Bill has a well-defined section on the rights of mentally ill patients. These people are always exploited. In the village where I come from, we do have people who are mentally challenged and they are usually abused. They are asked to do odd work such as splitting firewood. This Bill will rescue them from such exploitation. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}