A family in Githurai is contemplating abandoning the body of their late kin at Kenyatta University Hospital Funeral Home after failing to raise the Ksh.7.9 million hospital bill.
Speaking to journalists at their family home in Githurai, Nairobi County on Tuesday, July 18, Anthony Mburu, the deceased's husband, revealed that his wife has been grappling with Flaccid Tetraplegia since December 2022.
According to Mburu, his late wife was initially admitted to St. Johns Hospital but was later transferred to Kenyatta University Hospital, where she remained in the Intensive Care Unit until July 8, 2023.
He disclosed that the hospital bill accumulated to Ksh7.9 million over six months. Mburu emphasised that despite exhausting all their efforts, the family has been unable to raise the funds.
"The hospital demands a 75% payment to release the body. Alternatively, they have suggested surrendering a land title deed valued at Ksh7 million," Mburu lamented.
Due to the hard economic times, the family has been unable to pay the amount demanded by the hospital and now relies on well-wishers to come to their rescue.
Mburu claims that the family is now at cross roads, not knowing the next step to take.
The family has held numerous fundraisers every month but the amount collected is way below what the hospital is demanding.
Ann Waithera, a cousin to the deceased, urged the government to intervene and waive the bill since the family does not have the capacity to pay that amount.
In 2022, Kenyatta National Hospital requested members of the public to identify and collect 233 unclaimed bodies within one week failure to which, the hospital would move to court to seek orders to dispose the bodies.
The Chairperson of the KU Hospital board Prof Olive Mugenda admitted that a number of patients are unable to clear hospital bills.
She revealed that the hospital had waived about 140 million worth of medical bills to release patients and bodies of deceased persons from poor families.
Nevertheless, she stated that the hopsital did not have the capacity to waive medical bills for everyone.
