NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 21 – A Parliamentary Committee is set to launch an inquiry to establish the circumstances under which Gatundu South MP Moses Kuria was hospitalized after an electric mat he purchased to cure numbness in his feet left him with serious burns.
The National Assembly Health Committee will kick-start the investigations after Kuria petitioned it to probe medical products and devices including electric mats that are being promoted and sold in the country by M/S Ceragem Kenya Limited.
Committee Chairperson and Murang’a County Woman Representative Sabina Chege on Thursday said the committee will invite the proprietors of the company who will be tasked to shed more light on the effectiveness of their devices.
“We should invite that company or we visit where they are and go see for ourselves whichever comes first but they need to present their case to us,” she said.
Kuria who purchased the Sh250,000 mat through a friend suffered third degree burns and has been recuperating at the Karen Hospital a month since his admission.
Kuria, among other things, is keen to know if the products and devices that are sold by Ceragem have been approved by both the Pharmacy and Poisons Board and the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) and how many outlets the company has in the country.
He also wants top Ministry of Health officials to explain, through the Committee, if they are aware that some of the products issued by Ceragem Limited’s mother company have been banned in the State of Texas in the United States of America for making false claims about their efficacy against cancer.
Chege committed to ensure that the Committee gets to the bottom of the matter and assured that once its investigations are complete, a solid report will be tabled before the House.
“It is not just for the purpose of Hon. Moses Kuria, but also many Kenyans who might be exposed to such devices. It is not just a matter of probing the company that has been mentioned, but also the control measures that the relevant authorities in the country have put in place to protect the citizenry. I have seen those things being sold at various shopping centres,” she said.
Ceragem has since issued an apology to Kuria even as the firm maintained that their products are of high quality and are approved by KEBS.
Health Principal Secretary Susan Mochache has in the meantime been invited to appear before the Committee on Tuesday, October 26, to give the ministry’s position on the issues raised by Kuria in the petition.
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