Delay of Health Bill slowing sector’s reforms

The Ministry of Health has appealed to the National Assembly and the Senate to stop discussions on a number of Bills until the government can present an all-inclusive proposal.

Development of the Health Bill, which is supposed to be the main legal guide for the sector, has been going on since 2011.

The latest information indicates the Health Bill 2014 is now ready for presentation to the Attorney General, the Cabinet and the National Assembly.

The absence of this law was a major reason why health workers went on strike last year complaining of the lack of a road map to direct the sector within the 2010 Constitution and especially in a devolved system of government. For the health workers to break the strike last year, the Government had promised the law would be ready for presentation to Parliament early this year, but that did not happen.

About four years since the promulgation of the Constitution, this crucial law is yet to be put in place, occasioning a legal vacuum that has led to the now contentious flurry of Private Members’ Bills being witnessed in the houses. That is dangerous.

The argument by the ministry that the uncoordinated bills could create an operational and legal crisis is conscionable, especially if one looks at the content of the more than six Bills before the two houses. The many drafts are awash with replication, contradictions and dripping with self-interest.

Delay in presenting the Health Bill may largely be attributed to self interest groups, which have been blocking each new draft at every step of the way. Nonetheless, the ministry has the responsibility of expediting the presentation of the Bill where lawmakers must strike out any inclusion, which do not serve public interest.