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{
    "id": 917446,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/917446/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 315,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Ongeri",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 124,
        "legal_name": "Samson Kegeo Ongeri",
        "slug": "samson-ongeri"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I know that one of the most pernicious headache is human resources in county governments. Human resource in county governments is becoming a problem and the county governments do not know how to handle it. Some have gone for the easy way – applying carte blanche dismissal. That does not solve the labour relations problems. These are specialised people whom you must give a hearing. You must listen to their wants and problems and try and accommodate them. As we expand the Level 5 institutions in county governments, we must bear in mind that all county governments are potentially Level 5 hospitals. With Level 5 hospitals and the kind of specification we have in treatment and equipment which are being supplied to these hospitals, you need experts to run these machines. How can you expect experts to run those machines and you pay them peanuts, and you have not recognised their working hours, facilities and what they need to do? Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there was a time when I was an intern at the KNH, which was then called The King George VI Hospital. We were about 10 African doctors, and the rest were white people. We never had time to sleep because we worked for 24 hours, and we were devoted to that work. How do we get our doctors to become devoted to their work and to work jealously for our own people, patients, parents, sisters and brothers and Kenyans at large? Kenyans are suffering, particularly with the disease burden. We have cancer as a big scourge in this country. The cost and management of cancer throughout the country is enormous. All of you are privy to the realisation that you are being called upon for fund raising for cancer patients, either in or outside the country. There is no point going to check somebody with cancer when it is at stage four, which is too late. No amount of money will help that person. Now that the prevalence of cancer is much higher than what we had anticipated, if we had proper screening facilities in our hospitals and clinics, and we put these as part of our priority, then we would be able to fight cancer. This is why I said the medical supply kitty should cater for testing and screening facilities in our hospitals so that when we screen, we can then be able to detect some of these complicated diseases at an early stage. If we are able to detect them, then we can offer treatment on a timely basis and save lives. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I support this Bill with a few provisos, that when it comes to the COG being represented in KEMSA, they should demand a bigger voice and, if need be, the Chief Officer (CO). Secondly, when it comes to the division of revenue, we want to see a situation whereby some of these delegated or devolved functions – like health, agriculture and other areas – should have a bigger cake sliced off from the national Government. In fact, I do not know why we are even arguing about the Kshs327 billion; it should be much higher than that."
}