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{
    "id": 916381,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/916381/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 455,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kinangop, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Zachary Thuku",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13380,
        "legal_name": "Zachary Kwenya Thuku",
        "slug": "zachary-kwenya-thuku"
    },
    "content": "Article 43 of the Constitution provides that every Kenyan is entitled to the highest level of medical care up to and including reproductive health. If that is the case, there is not a single patient who will walk to KNH as much as it is a referral hospital, and be turned away. We need to have a system of referral. Let us know the kind of people who are supposed to be treated in our referral hospitals, namely, MTRH, KNH, the NSIH and the MNTRH, failure to which, we will have the influx that we have been experiencing in those facilities. The other issue is that of the National Spinal Injury Hospital. There is little publicity. Many Kenyans do not know that there exists such a referral hospital. Because of underfunding, it is unable publicise its existence. The Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital has had negative publicity whereby people think that those who are taken there are insane. People have not come to appreciate that mental illnesses are diseases that can be cured. These people need to be incorporated in the society and be taken to hospital so that they can receive the highest level of medical care. If you sit pretty and assume that people know about these facilities, you will have too many people who are mentally unwell living among us. As representatives of the people, we should fund this facility quickly and upscale it to international standards. Most Kenyan nurses working abroad, in pursuit of the American or European dream serve in these kinds of facilities, where they take care of mentally-challenged people. These are people going through some phases of depression and those kinds of mental illness. Over time, due to good care, such patients get discharged to join their families fully healed. We also found out that many trainee doctors and registrars work within these hospitals and are not paid because it is taken that they are training and so, they should pay universities. The hospitals are not giving them incentives so that they can encourage them to continue or motivate them to work. You would expect some kind of apathy because working without pay while you are giving services is a big challenge. We are of the opinion that registrars be paid from the National Treasury. There should be some programme where they are well-remunerated so that we can upscale the number of health workers that we have in the cadre of doctors in our referral hospitals. Finally, I pray that this Report is adopted. We have adopted too many other reports, but little action is seen. This House must stamp its authority. We cannot just be sitting here to waste time. The Committee that is responsible for the implementation should not sleep on such a wonderful Report that is aimed at changing the lives of our people. I propose that every Member in this Chamber reads this Report carefully and helps us adopt it. Maybe through your authority, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, we should have it followed up for implementation as soon as possible, so that we can assist our brothers and sisters. With those remarks, I support the Report."
}