Johnson Arthur Sakaja

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 2261 to 2270 of 5036.

• 28 Apr 2020 in Senate: On CHS, we observed that community health workers, and Sen. (Dr.) Zani has a Bill on this, are a key part in dealing with this. In West Africa, the Ebola crisis was dealt with primarily because of what community health workers were able to do. In Nairobi, we have more than 5,000 community health workers, and there are many all over the country. We have asked for them to be deployed and for them to be engaged by county governments and be given a stipend for them to be able to operate. The Committee on Budget and Finance might need ... view
• 28 Apr 2020 in Senate: Mr. Deputy Speaker Sir, there is need for mental health and psychosocial support, not just for Kenyans because of stigmatization, but also for the frontline health personnel. We have already started seeing the breakdown of society and increase in domestic violence. We have seen some of the health workers moving into undesired behavior as they themselves have said, and we need them to be supported to get trauma counselling. view
• 28 Apr 2020 in Senate: We note that there is need for the Government to act urgently to ensure that there is delivery of mental health services. The Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital is singled out because services had been disrupted there, and we have said that it must resume work. This is because mental health has not taken a break during the COVID-19 pandemic. view
• 28 Apr 2020 in Senate: The Kenya Healthcare Foundation (KHF) gave us very good submissions. We have been able to connect them to interact with the national Government to make sure that they get certain concessions in certain validation costs. They told us about the global supply chain pressures, the fragmentation of the supply chain between the public and private sector, and many other issues, including insurance. You will read that in the report. I am not able to go through them. view
• 28 Apr 2020 in Senate: Mr. Deputy Speaker Sir, we want to laud the achievements of KEMRI in initiating automated testing, developing a whole genome sequencing, developing screening kits and VTM. However, the potential of Kenya’s academic and research institutions in driving Kenya’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic remains largely untapped owing to several years of neglect and inadequate funding. 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. view
• 28 Apr 2020 in Senate: Without going into technical issues, because based on these sittings I have almost become a doctor, the issue of us dealing with HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis has actually given us quite some capacity in gene expert machines across the country. Therefore, there are just small things that need to be done to add to the capacity of KEMRI. Mr. Deputy Speaker Sir, I know that my time is up, but if you would allow me just five more minutes to give the recommendations then Sen. (Dr.) Mbito can pick up from there. view
• 28 Apr 2020 in Senate: Mr. Deputy Speaker Sir, there are 44 recommendations, so I cannot read all of them. So, I will look for the top recommendations. I must say that we need to leverage religious, political and community leaders at all levels of society for the dissemination of well-packaged, COVID-19 public messages. Further, the current communication and messaging strategy employed by the Ministry needs to be shifted from one that emphasizes criminality, to one that emphasizes social responsibility and solidarity. We do not preach fear any more, let us preach social responsibility and solidarity. Mr. Deputy Speaker Sir, the ongoing efforts by the ... view
• 28 Apr 2020 in Senate: On top of that, I have spoken about Dr. Lutomia and we have asked that an amount of Kshs790 million be allocated to KEMRI. However, NHIF needs to expedite the release of all NHIF payments due to hospitals, including private hospitals. This is because they are really stretching their capacity at this time, and the Ministry needs to fast track appointment of the new Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB). We need to expedite publication and implementation of the Mental Heath Taskforce Report. We need to make sure that we have adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs). In ensuring the quality and ... view
• 28 Apr 2020 in Senate: Finally, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we know this is a tough time. Allow me to say this. I will not read the report next Tuesday if certain Ministries do not comply. There are certain Ministries that have been playing cat and mouse games with this Committee. We want to tell them politely that oversight has not been suspended by COVID-19. The Senate needs to play its role but we are not doing so in antagonistic manner. I think around five CSs have met us and they left enriched with new ideas. We have others who are calling back asking when ... view
• 28 Apr 2020 in Senate: We have some Ministries that have been avoiding meetings. They should come so that we support each other. This is the time we should show leadership and partnership. All of us should play our roles from the different places we work in this Republic. We assure our continued support to the Council of Governors (CoG), the County Assemblies Forum (CAF), the Kenya Medical Association (KMA), the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), and all the stakeholders who came as we continue fight this pandemic. We will definitely overcome as a country. view