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{
    "id": 907182,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/907182/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 720,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Ongeri",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 124,
        "legal_name": "Samson Kegeo Ongeri",
        "slug": "samson-ongeri"
    },
    "content": "previous ones. Marriage counselling has a benefit for doing screening first and it is important. The Motion says now that we know that what contributes to infant mortality and the ones that prevent them from going to school and other places is when they have these multiple crises and infection like malaria will precipitate thrombosis in various places. Just a simple fever or ear infection will cause those problems. These children need to be screened to be able to know when they are likely to run into a crisis and then use simple measure to be able to obviate any crisis that may occur. I support this Motion. Yes, it is possible to have these basic services offered at the dispensary level. That way, children will not have to travel all the way from Kisii, Mandera and other places coming to Nairobi City County to specialized centres. This is not a kidney dialysis centre. If we are able to have dialysis centres in our regional hospitals, why can we not give a simple remedy that saves lives in small health centres and dispensaries? We do not need an expert to know what type of hemoglobin a person has in the blood. We just need a simple clinician and technician who can do electrophoresis; know the type of hemoglobin and prescribe the treatment for that child. The rest of it remains monitoring. Madam Temporary Speaker, therefore, in supporting this Motion, I wish I had more time, I would have said more. However, it suffices to say that the essence of this Motion is to let the county governments know that health is a devolved function and hemoglobin SS exists and it has various varieties. The one which causes more disease is hemoglobin SS which is abnormal and has a poor capacity to carry oxygen. Therefore, these are the children who are in danger of succumbing to simple infections or any malarial attacks. Therefore, they should be screened to know their status, deal with it and support them at the right time. Therefore, I call upon the county governments who are charged with devolution that access to these drugs is easy. One of the treatments of simple infections is Penicillin V which is an old age drug which treats all common elements so long as they are not resistant to penicillin. If they are, then the doctor should be in a position to find out. Therefore, there must be availability of these drugs at the dispensary and hospital level. Our clinicians, clinical officers, nurses and doctors must have the capacity to carry out this primary element in theater and ensure that these children are vaccinated against all other diseases because they succumb easily to other diseases like measles. This is not supposed to be the case because we eliminated it sometime back when I did the mass vaccination for measles until we extended the age to about 13 or 14. It is only the other day I heard a resurgence of measles. That needs not to crowd our hospitals which have a burden of diseases. Therefore, it is important that we know these fundamentals and basics to help these children survive beyond the age they are expected to live. By the way, this is a lifelong disease. It can be maintained like diabetes, a known metabolic disease, by preventing these episodes. Long term cure could be a bone marrow transplant what they call stem cell transplant. However, that is a sophisticated thing. We can do these small remedies and save lives in a simple way. Madam Temporary Speaker, with those few words, I support."
}