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MPs question over Sh671m Ebola emergency fund

Health & Science

NAIROBI, KENYA: The Sh671 million request by the Ministry of Health as contingency against the deadly Ebola virus has attracted doubts and accusations from some Members of Parliament who termed the amount as dubiously too much.

Yesterday,  Health CS James Macharia told MPs of the Health committee that he needs the money to prepare the country in case Ebola strikes Kenya.

Health Committee Vice Chair Dr. Robert Pukose however said that the money was too much and wondered if it was a ploy by some officials in government to  take advantage  of the Ebola crisis to siphon public funds.

Committee member MP Dr. Nyikal requested that the CS submits full details of the evaluation plan to enable them access whether the amount allocated to it was commensurate

Health Committee Chair Dr. Rachel Nyamai wondered why the committee was not involved in drafting the budget for the contingency plans, but Macharia said it was an emergency

Macharia defended the allocation that the money is actually a drop in the ocean considering that other countries have set aside much more cash for contingency. He claimed that Nigeria has set aside the equivalent of Sh30 billion

He added that  the funding is not much considering the disaster Ebola would wreck in the country if it was discovered within the borders of Kenya.

“If God forbid, we discover Ebola it will be a disaster for Kenya. The countries that have been hit by the disease  have had to spend billions of shillings to control. That is why  our prevention efforts should be supported and the money we are requesting is actually modest,” he said.

He added that the funds requested are meant to cover the whole country. The money appears to have been revised up from Sh530 million that had been quoted last week .

Macharia said that so far, thy have began using Sh50 million that had been set aside for contingency in the Ministry as they await more funding from the Treasury. The Ebola money is expected to come from the Sh5 billion contingency fund that the government always sets aside for emergencies and disasters.

On his part, Nominated MP Hassan Osman raised concern with reports that a drug used and marketed in Kenya to treat HIV will be used by Nigeria in the fight against Ebola.

The drug that goes by the trade name Nano Silver. was introduced in Kenya in 2011 by a company known as Benir International (K) Ltd, which has offices at Piranha Centre, Mombasa Road.

The product is said to contain microscopic silver particles and is a complementary medicine indicated to act against a wide spectrum of fungus, viruses, bacterium and other disease causing organisms.

The MP sought to find out if the drug has been registered in Kenya for use.

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