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{
"id": 1567492,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Methu",
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"speaker": {
"id": 13581,
"legal_name": "Methu John Muhia",
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"content": "Having lived through this ordeal for the four months since she started her medication, it us tells that baby Annita Jepkorir was a brave young girl. She really wanted and even fought to live. Despite the negligence of the doctors, she fought on. From the observations that have been made by the Committee on the day that she collapsed, she was playing outside. I mean, that tells you that the baby was fighting to keep her life. There is a very thin line between doctors’ negligence and the recommendations that have been proposed by law of what should be done to a doctor who is negligent. Of the many professions that we have, if anything goes wrong, there are many ways of remedying but for a medical doctor at an operating table, one wrong move, we have lost a life. If it was an engineer, maybe even if they had built a five-storey building, it could be brought down and something can be corrected. If it was a mechanic, the part they have put in that engine can be corrected. For a medical doctor, once you do the wrong diagnosis, we have lost a life. I wonder whether you watched a video that was in the social media yesterday of a parent who was in deep pain from Igegania Hospital in Gatundu. You saw a father holding his daughter. Doctors want to come and pick the body of the daughter from the father. The father is asking the doctors, “I have been here the whole day. My daughter has died in my hands. What have you been doing the whole day and you are saying that you are on strike? What would be more precious than a human life? That father was literally fighting the doctors in that hospital. Can you imagine the pain that was in that father? Do you imagine if your parent was to die in your hands and you are saying that we were supposed to help you in this kind of a situation? Madam Temporary Speaker, many people have spoken about what we in Government and leadership ought to do. There are many things that we ought to do. Of the many things and of the many services that we ought to think and plan in terms of offering services to the people of Kenya, if there is one area that we must be very deliberate and put as much effort and resources as possible, it will be in the healthcare system. Madam Temporary Speaker, I am happy that you are on that seat. I do not want to share the story with you because you were there yourself when one us got herself in a situation where she needed medical attention in some place around Ukambani. When you were taking her to Machakos Level 4 or Level 5 hospital, you felt that she could not even make it to the other hospitals that we come to in Nairobi such as the Nairobi Hospital. She really required medical services there and then. The closest medical facility that was there was Machakos Level 4 Hospital. Had that facility not had the services that that Senator required, you can imagine what would have happened. If we cannot invest in the healthcare - you have put it well - if we have a sick nation, then we do not have a nation. We have seen the UHC staff for the last about two or three months. They are always here at the gate. We pass them. Sometimes we speak to them and sometimes, we run away from them. The other time, we go through the Parliament’s Tunnel because we"
},
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"id": 1567493,
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"text_counter": 520,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Methu",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13581,
"legal_name": "Methu John Muhia",
"slug": "methu-john-muhia"
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"content": "The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1567494,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1567494/?format=api",
"text_counter": 521,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Methu",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13581,
"legal_name": "Methu John Muhia",
"slug": "methu-john-muhia"
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"content": "do not want to meet them at the gate. They come to the gate of the Senate and then go to the National Assembly. Madam Temporary Speaker, I wonder if you have read the headline for today’s"
},
{
"id": 1567495,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1567495/?format=api",
"text_counter": 522,
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"speaker": null,
"content": "Daily Nation"
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{
"id": 1567496,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1567496/?format=api",
"text_counter": 523,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Methu",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13581,
"legal_name": "Methu John Muhia",
"slug": "methu-john-muhia"
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"content": ", so that we can understand the anguish that is with the people of Kenya. I wonder what we as leaders, politicians and us who have been given authority over the people of Kenya think when we read such things and see suck kind of issues; when we watched the video of that father who was holding a dead child and when we look at this Petition of baby Annita Jepkorir. How does it make us feel? We are telling the UHC staff that we do not have money for them to be permanent and pensionable and to give them gratuity for the five years they have worked. They are asking themselves; five years ago when they were being employed, the budget of the Republic of Kenya was at Kshs2.4 trillion. This year’s budget has gone beyond the Kshs4 trillion mark. Even after the budget has grown with Kshs1.6 trillion, there is still no money to take care of our UHC staff. The Daily Nation headline was – Patients Abandoned . You could see a sad photo of patients in hospitals. There is no one to attend to them because the UHC medics have been on the streets for weeks and doctors have boycotted duties citing pay delays. We want to blame doctors for negligence. No one should watch people lie there in anguish because they require services and you are the only one who can offer those services. Madam Temporary Speaker, to be the devil’s advocate, what do those medical practitioners feel when we cannot process their allowances and we are not working on their promotions? The problem we have in the county where that dad was screaming yesterday is arbitrary transfers of doctors. They have no certainty in terms of the services they offer. When we tell the UHC staff that we do not have money for their allowances or have them on permanent and pensionable, then they look at the budget of the State House at the time when they were employed and look at the same budget now and also look at the other things that we in the Government feel that we need to invest a lot of money on and yet, in one supplementary budget, we can give the National Intelligence Services (NIS) a whooping Kshs10 billion as additional funds because they are working on serious security installations. It is not bad to invest in serious security installations, but one would wonder; now I am secure but sick and I do not have anyone to attend to me when I go to hospital. It beats logic. We want to preserve life because we are working on security but we also want to expose our people into losing the same lives because we are not offering the services that they require. Madam Temporary Speaker, I have also looked at the recommendations that have been made. This is where we have a gap in law. It is something that Parliament needs to look at. The KMPDC should in three months after adoption of this Report issue a caution or a reprimand. That is the law. The reading of Section 26(a) says that the only tools KMPDC has is to caution and reprimand. If I am disorderly in this House, you will caution me once. The second time, you will chase me out. However, for a medical doctor who is negligent and has caused loss of life and it has been verified and found out that it is out of the negligence of"
},
{
"id": 1567497,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1567497/?format=api",
"text_counter": 524,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Methu",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13581,
"legal_name": "Methu John Muhia",
"slug": "methu-john-muhia"
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"content": "The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1567498,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1567498/?format=api",
"text_counter": 525,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Methu",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13581,
"legal_name": "Methu John Muhia",
"slug": "methu-john-muhia"
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"content": "that doctor that a person died, the only thing we can do is reprimand or caution. If we are to take adverse step in punishing this doctor, then he should be asked to go back to school. It should not about taking account of what they have done already. The other thing that we can do which Sen. Cherarkey has talked about is to ask that doctor go back to school. So, what is the fate of the people who have suffered in the hands of this particular person? We must make it stringent. Think of the parents of Annita Jepkorir and the kind of suffering they underwent. They really suffered when that baby was alive. A foreign object was in their daughter's respiratory system and it was not removed. To conceal the negligence of the doctor, they removed the teeth of the girl. When they asked for the teeth, it was not available and they were not allowed to insist on asking. Those parents have also suffered after the death of their daughter. Do we really appreciate that this girl died three years ago yet justice has not been served to these parents? They had to come to the Senate because nothing has happened in the last three years. When they sought for information to lodge this complaint, the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital did not come through for them. The Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Kenyatta National Hospital and Kenyatta University Teaching and Referral Hospital are at the top in terms of the health facilities that we have in the Republic. Sen. (Dr.) Khalwale, imagine what would happen in a hospital like J.M Kariuki, which is not even a teaching and referral hospital, if people can suffer like this in the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital. We usually expect the best of the best to be found in the level six hospitals. But what do we get? This kind of a problem. I feel that in our recommendations, we apportioned the bigger blame of the death of baby Annita Jepkorir to the legal department of Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital more than the person who was negligent. The recommendations require that disciplinary action and administrative action should be taken on the staff of the legal department of Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital. However, there is nothing like disciplinary or administrative action on the doctor who caused this death. My question is: who should be apportioned more blame? We have the people who tried to conceal evidence and the person who caused the sin. I am confused. Who should carry the bigger burden of the death of baby Annita Jepkorir? In our recommendation, we have asked for that disciplinary and administrative action be taken upon the legal department because they were supposed to help the parents of baby Annita to the bottom of this. I agree that this is good. However, I believe the bigger blame is on Dr. Ondigo and the team of doctors who were working on this baby."
},
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"id": 1567499,
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"text_counter": 526,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Methu",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13581,
"legal_name": "Methu John Muhia",
"slug": "methu-john-muhia"
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"content": "There is another good recommendation, and I hope that it will be implemented. Recommendation No.4 states that there should be a creation of a formal patient’s advocacy within healthcare facilities to assist families in navigating complaints. Imagine people who are languishing in the villages and they do not even know that they can petition the Senate. We have people who have suffered in the hands of doctors, but they cannot get justice. This is because the framework upon which they can seek for this"
},
{
"id": 1567500,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1567500/?format=api",
"text_counter": 527,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Methu",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13581,
"legal_name": "Methu John Muhia",
"slug": "methu-john-muhia"
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"content": "The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
},
{
"id": 1567501,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1567501/?format=api",
"text_counter": 528,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Methu",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13581,
"legal_name": "Methu John Muhia",
"slug": "methu-john-muhia"
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"content": "justice has not been established. We now have a case of the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital. What happens to people who have gone through such an experience or have a complaint against a doctor or a health facility? The complaint could be on any type of health facility. It could be a Level 5 or Level 3 health facility, a dispensary or a health centre. Madam Temporary Speaker, there are many cases of misdiagnosis. Many people have been misdiagnosed and suffered at the hands of doctors. There are many individuals who have been told they have a certain disease, only for it to be later established that they do not have it. The trauma of such experiences is why patients are advised to seek second, third, or even fourth opinions, only to find each diagnosis differing from the initial one. I wonder, Dr. Boni, as a doctor, do you follow a different syllabus? How is it that one doctor diagnoses a patient with one condition while another gives a completely different diagnosis? In one hospital, a patient is told they have H. Pylori; in the next, they are diagnosed with stomach cancer; and in another, they are simply advised to drink more water. This incompetence must be addressed. As I see the light beaming, I want to consolidate and conclude. Number five: we need to develop standardised protocols and mechanisms for investigating reported medical negligence cases. Do you see that after the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) found this doctor culpable, they were simply told to negotiate with the family on the action to be taken? Do you see --- By the way, I also wanted to ask, since these doctors were fined, with one fined Kshs250,000 and another Kshs300,000, who was receiving this money? Was it going to the parents, the hospital, the council itself or someone else? Why do we not have a prescribed list of measures to be taken once someone is found culpable? It should not be left to negotiation with the affected family. In the hospital’s submissions, they are even asking the family to appreciate the many hours worked. They say, “You must appreciate that we worked on your daughter for so long”. However, you worked on her like someone heading to Nyandarua but taking the road to Mombasa, driving at full speed and expecting appreciation for how fast you are going. If you are moving in the wrong direction, you will never reach your destination. Similarly, once a misdiagnosis has occurred, it does not matter how long a doctor works on the baby, the damage has already been done. In fact, the parents of this baby have argued that the prolonged treatment resulted from an initial mistake. Had the doctor correctly identified that the foreign object was merely a swallowed seed, they would not have worked on her for such a long time. We need to encourage hospitals to engage in mediation with patients' families. However, this mediation must be structured. It cannot simply be a matter of telling the family to negotiate with the hospital. There must be a clear, well-defined mediation mechanism in place. Even in court, there must be mediation. One must meet a mediator to settle matters out of court, not simply be forced to agree with the hospital."
}
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