By Renson Mwakandana
37 patients who were held back because of unpaid debts have now been let go. This has happened following Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja’s order to free patients being confined in county health institutions due to unpaid medical fees.
While Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital released 19 patients with debts of KSh900,000 (USD 7,300), Mbagathi Hospital released 18 patients.
/Nairobi News/
Governor Sakaja gave the county Health Services the go-ahead to carry out the directive and guarantee that all patients who are unable to pay their medical costs be unconditionally discharged.
He urged the release of the held patients because he believes that families must spend time together over the holiday season. “Christmas is a time when families need to be together,” he said.
Other patients who will also profit from the governor’s instruction are presently being vetted by the Social Works departments of both hospitals.
Some hospital patients in Nairobi have been unable to pay their fees, and even after receiving treatment, they are not discharged because of outstanding costs.
The majority of the time, hospitals held deceased bodies because of unpaid payments. Nairobi County disposed of 236 unclaimed dead from municipal public morgues that were not recovered in September 2022.
Jairus Musumba, the county secretary and director of county Public Service, gave the general public seven days to identify them.
An unclaimed body must be removed from a morgue within two weeks, according to Cap 242 of the Public Health Act, otherwise it will be buried in a mass grave with the approval of public officials.
