Mercy Omukuba, a second-year student at Egerton University revealed what she had to go through with her sick mother, in an interview with the Daily Nation published on Tuesday, October 1.
Omukuba recalls she had to defer her studies for a year in order to take care of her mother Linet Wabuko who was detained at Nakuru Level 5 hospital due to unpaid medical bills.
She missed her second-semester exams because the money she used her Higher Education Loans Board (Helb) money to cater for her mother’s treatment.
“I will still go back to class and finish my bachelor’s degree, but my mother needs to come out of the hospital first,” Omukuba assured.
The Procurement and Supply Chain Mangement Studies student disclosed that her mother’s health was more important than her studies.
“In May 2019, my mother complained of recurring headache and rapid heartbeat. She was experiencing heavy menses and I advised her to take enough rest,” Omukuba recollected.
However, her mother’s health continued to deteriorate and a month later things got worse.
Wabuko had to be relocated from Lamu to Nakuru where her daughter lived so she could take better care of her.
“It was traumatising to see her calling me on phone, and I wanted to be around her and share her pain,” Omukuba added.
Tests were done on Wabuko and the doctors at Nakuru Level 5 hospital found that she had stage B cervical cancer.
“It was like a nightmare, I felt weak,” Omukuba remembered as she noted all the responsibilities were now on her.
She tried reaching out to the County Government of Nakuru to help her clear her mother’s medical bill but never got a response.
Omukuba had managed to get Sh4,000 from a WhatsApp group she had started but it still fell short of the Sh35,000 her mother owed the hospital. She used the money to apply for secure an NHF cover for her sick mother.
“My mother needs to start her second phase of treatment and doctors have told me to either go to the Moi Teaching and Referal Hospital or Kenyatta National Hospital,” she concluded.
