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{
    "id": 928995,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/928995/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 267,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kuria East, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Marwa Kitayama",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13394,
        "legal_name": "Marwa Kemero Maisori Kitayama",
        "slug": "marwa-kemero-maisori-kitayama"
    },
    "content": " Thank you Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for this opportunity. I want to take this opportunity to, first of all, condole with the families of Governor Laboso and our colleague Hon. Ken Okoth. I also want to take note of the fact that I lost my mother to cancer of the stomach in 2016. So, this is a Motion which I support with a lot of attachment because it has hit my home. We went through a traumatising time as a family when this came visiting our home. I just want us to go beyond talking in these Motions. We have spoken about cancer since we came here, probably in more than three Motions. This could be the third or fourth Motion. Each time, it just remains there and that does not help this country. What will help this country is to relook at the health set up of this country and the Constitution of Kenya 2010 that devolved health services. Maybe, that is the beginning of the mistakes that we made as a country. Probably, we could have done slightly better by identifying in each level, for example, in level 4 or level 5 and we purposely ensure that these facilities are given proper Government funding and equipment, so that cancer and other diseases that are chronic can be attended to affirmatively. I am speaking from experience. I come from Migori County and Level 5 Hospital in Migori County Headquarters is the only facility where you find some semblance of equipment that can scan this disease. At the lower levels, where the majority of the rural people are found, they do not have basic medicines, leave alone equipment that could detect cervical cancer. You can imagine if a population of 1.2 million people were to seek medical attention in one hospital in Migori County Headquarters, your guess is as good as mine. It will be difficult for these services to reach the people who are generally poor. The diagnosis that they give – there are no doctors in the rural medical facilities like dispensaries – to poor mothers and people in the villages is wrong to begin with. They start by being told that they have stomach problems and then ulcers. By the time cancer is detected, it is at level four. That is not helpful. So, as I support this Motion, this issue needs to move beyond talking about it and supporting it, then leaving it at that stage. So, I support and thank my sister, Hon. Tum for bringing this Motion. It is timely. However, it needs to move from the irresponsible people that we have given the responsibility of dealing with healthcare to regulations and policies that are going to ensure that, it is a must to be scanned for cancer and not just a matter that can be dealt with because somebody has accessed a cancer facility. It needs to move to that level. So, I support this Motion and request that all of us, as a country, we look at it in good light. It should be mandatory that anyone who visits a medical facility be tested for cervical cancer as one of the compulsory tests that would happen to them. Thank you. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}