Kenyan Stuck with Wife's Body in India [VIDEO]

Rapid Action Force personnel patrol a street during the lockdown in India.
Rapid Action Force personnel patrol a street during the lockdown in India.

Geoffrey Imathui found himself in a tragic predicament after his wife passed away while undergoing treatment in India during the nationwide lockdown.

The man who identifies as a resident of Meru County had travelled to the country with his wife on February 26 to seek treatment for her cancer.

Leon Lidigu, a journalist based in New Delhi, India who spoke to Imathui learned that the couple decided on Cytecare Cancer Hospital in Bengaluru, India for treatment but despite doctors efforts, his wife passed on a month later. 

Watch the video below:

Imathui narrated the tragic turn of events that had left him a widower in a strange land with few options of getting home.

"I travelled to India with my wife on February 26 for cancer treatment. A few complications left her in ICU where she passed away on March 28," stated Imathui.

He noted that it was a significant challenge to settle the ICU bills that run quite high as she was there for 14 days. These had significantly strained his resources.

"The bill was very high, it kept accumulating. We had to look for resources back home," Imathui lamented.

The already dire situation became even more difficult following his wife's death as he had to pay morgue fees where her body lay.

"The place where the body is being kept is quite expensive. This is a strain on my own upkeep budget as we have no way of transporting it to Meru, Kenya," Imathui said.

Imathui noted that there were a number of Kenyans in the country in a similar predicament. They had lost kin during the nationwide lockdown and lacked the means of transporting the bodies back to Kenya.

A couple stranded in India had also suffered a significant loss when their child passed away while undergoing treatment.

According to Jecinta Hezron, leader and spokesperson for the Kenyan patients in India, the 7-year old girl had passed away on March 27 while receiving care for brain cancer.

Faced with uncertainty on whether the government would evacuate them, the couple made the difficult choice to cremate their child in the country.

A woman stands behind her 85-year old parents. The family was stranded in India after travelling to seek treatment
A woman stands behind her 85-year old parents. The family was stranded in India after travelling to seek treatment
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Leon Lidigu

The decision, which has earned the grieving couple stigma and judgement, was arrived at after their efforts to contact the Kenyan embassy in India were futile with no response forthcoming.

Kenyans in the country have appealed to the government to evacuate them with some stating that even affording food was becoming a problem.

The country which has been under lockdown for three weeks recently extended this by another 21 days to March 3. 

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