A family Living in Nairobi has been forced to surrender their home valued at Ksh8.5 million, to a city hospital in order to raise funds to clear their late mother's medical bills.
Anne Watere Macharia had spent a whole year in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Nairobi South hospital but passed on in December 2020. The medical bill amounted to Ksh20 million.
Speaking to KTN News, Watere's son Samuel Macharia noted that a property valuation company had placed their family home at Ksh8.5 million, a figure that was disputed by the hospital.
The hospital's management noted that the value of the home stood at Ksh6 million instead of the family's value of Ksh8.5 million.
Kenyans.co.ke tried to reach the hospital for comments on the matter but a representative affirmed that the management was in a meeting. They promised to give their statement on the issue.
Samuel lamented on the situation noting that they still had to raise more than Ksh10 million in order to offset the bill.
"Not getting the chance to bury my mother has been a difficult situation for our family," Samuel stated noting that his mother's body has been in the morgue for three months.
According to Samuel, him mother began ailing in 2018 shortly after his father, Francis Macharia, succumbed to cancer.
He stated that his mother began showing symptoms of numbness to the whole body which led to breathing problems.
She was taken to various hospitals but later died while receiving treatment.
Watere's sister Dorcas Wanjiku, affirmed that the family had tried to raise Ksh500,000 from friends and well-wishers to offset the bill.
Further, she noted that the medical bill had surpassed Ksh20 million but the National Hospital Insurance Fund had paid Ksh1.4 million. The family urges Kenyans of goodwill to help in raising the funds in order to give their mother a decent burial.
