Malindi MP Amina Mnyazi spent her birthday on Monday by offsetting bills for mothers and children at the Malindi General Hospital
The beneficiaries, who included men held at the hospital for failing to pay their bills, thanked the MP saying that her gesture had lifted a huge financial burden from them.
According to the hospital, the MP had cleared bills worth Ksh250,000 to mark her birthday for at least 30 patients who had already received clearance to be discharged.
"Today we are very lucky and we feel privileged to have been visited by our area Member of parliament, and she has managed to offset bills worth Ksh250,000 for our mothers and children, and also med who have been staying here without being able to offset their bills," a hospital administrator said.
MP Mnyazi relayed that she had made the decision to pay those bills as a way to give back to her constituents, thanking them for their support so far.
She further hailed the staff at the hospital for their support during the exercise, as they are the ones who pointed her to the most worthy beneficiaries. Those who did not qualify were also given a cash gift of an undisclosed amount.
"To celebrate my birthday, I decided that I would clear the bills for everyone who had been discharged but had been unable to pay their bills," she said.
"Only those whose names have been cleared will benefit today, but for those who are yet to be discharged, I will still give you something small for their children."
She, however, urged them to register and pay for the Social Health Authority (SHA) so that they could start getting treatment without pay henceforth.
According to the MP, her findings from touring the hospital and speaking to the sub-county staff revealed that most residents had yet to register for SHA, and others had registered but not paid.
As such, she promised that she could take it upon herself to spread awareness on the importance of the scheme and also mobilise other politicians to do the same.
"I will talk to the other leaders to continue raising awareness among Kenyans to register for SHA because there are those small challenges that can easily be resolved by being registered to SHA," she said.
