Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 927085,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/927085/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 331,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Rev.) Waqo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13178,
        "legal_name": "Naomi Jilo Waqo",
        "slug": "naomi-jilo-waqo"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, why should he comment on what I have said? This is a serious discussion. I congratulate Sen. (Dr.) Ali for bringing this Bill because cancer is affecting the entire nation. It has robbed us family members, breadwinners and great leaders. We have lost great leaders in the last one month. Likewise, many people have died out of cancer in the last one month in my county. In the village where I was born, we lost two people and one of them was an elder who had always guided the villagers. Cancer is affecting the entire nation and we need to come up with solutions. In my county, people have been told that they are getting cancer because of eating a lot of meat, yet it is our staple food. We have now been told that milk also contributes to cancer. Mursik is what we call ititu in my place, and we all enjoy it. I actually took a glass of ititu last night and I am now surprised to learn that it can also cause cancer. Cancer is so close to us and has taken so many lives. I support this Bill, which proposes to amend the Cancer Prevention and Control Act to provide for additional function of county governments in prevention and treatment of cancer. This Bill will make us to all own the problem and the county governments shall be responsible for prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and control. If all the counties do this, then those who are suffering from cancer will be encouraged and have hope. The Bill seeks to establish the county cancer centres in every county. That will make the Government to invest money for us to take care of our citizens. Statistics indicate that we lose 33,000 Kenyans every year to cancer. Early screening is the best thing that we can do to our people, but the cost is immense. It is only those who have money that can afford early screening. What about the people in the villages who have no access to these facilities or transport to go to hospital? Some of them do not even have an idea of what they are suffering from. This Bill will get the services close to the people. Free screening should be done as we wait for the centres to be developed in every county because time is not on our side. Many Kenyans could be suffering from cancer without knowing. Therefore, the Government should allow those who want to be screened to get the services free of charge. That will help Kenyans to know their status. We do record 47,887 new cases of cancer every year, and this is alarming. We should encourage the citizens to go for screening. Part IIIA of the Bill talks of prevention and control of cancer in counties. However, I will not go into the details. The proposed New Section 22A (a) and (b) talk of capacity building for professionals. Most of the time, we put the wrong people in places that need attention. Therefore, I suggest that only people who are qualified for a particular job are employed and capacity building done from time to time. I support this because in the proposed New Section 22A (g), the Bill suggests that we conduct counseling sessions not only to people who have cancer, but also to the caregivers. As we all know, people who take care of the patients suffer a lot. This has made Kenyans poorer and increased the poverty level in our nation. Therefore, families that go through this need counseling sessions. Clause 22(D) states that:- 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."
}