The reality of problems Kenyans undergo while seeking healthcare has dawned on a family in Malindi, Kilifi County.
The family is in agony after failing to raise Sh1.2 million in hospital bills for their kin who died while undergoing treatment at Pandya hospital in Mombasa two weeks ago.
The deceased, Elina Yongo from Gahaleni Village, Malindi Constituency was diagnosed with cancer. She has had some other complications in her body and was receiving specialized treatment at the health facility raising the bill to Sh1,181,100 after failing to get the services from local government facilities.
The family has only been able to raise Sh. 100,000 for the two weeks fundraising and with the bill expected to go up, they are asking for well-wishers to come to their rescue.
They are also appealing to both the county, and the national government to intervene so as to help them clear the bill and enable them to pick up their kin’s body for burial.
Their fear is that after one month the bill will rise as the hospital will be charging them a three per cent interest daily.
When the media visited the family members at their Gahaleni home, they found friends and relatives in a sombre mood as efforts to raise money are diminishing each day.
The deceased’s mother Elizabeth Karisa appealed for help from the government as she is unable to foot the hospital bill and her daughter’s body is being held at the Pandya hospital.
” I am really suffering and the body is in hospital and I do not have the money to pay the bill, to make it worse the bill is accumulating,” she said.
Sellina Yongo the deceased’s sister said doctors at the government facilities recommended a CT scan to be done in Mombasa which revealed she had many complications including cancer.
She said they have sold everything to cater to her treatment but did not succeed because after surgery was conducted twice she was diagnosed with cancer.
Yongo said her sister was a single mother with a nine-year-old child who depended on farming at her home for survival.
”We have been fundraising since she died up to now we managed to raise only Sh. 100,000 and this is the second week she is in the mortuary,” she said.
Yongo said the reason for going to Pandya is not because they did not want to go to government facilities but due to the complications as some of them had affected the liver and required specialized treatment.
She said they settled for Pandya hospital as there was a specialist who could conduct the surgery and treatment of the complicated ailments.
”She really was for the surgery because she believed that after that she would recover fully but she did not survive,” she said.
Yongo said they have tried to look for support from the newly elected leaders but it has been difficult because they were sworn in the office recently and feel they may not be in a position to help so far.
She appealed to newly sworn-in President William Ruto to intervene and help the family settle the bill so as to pick it for burial.
”We are really suffering here at Gahaleni for how long are we going to cry and not able to get the body, we need help to get the body in Pandya we come and bury it,” she said.
Alfred Safari a relative of the deceased said they have lost hope of raising the Sh. 1 million due to the hard economic times.
He said it has been difficult to raise even Sh. 5000 during their daily fundraisings and appealed to the government and well-wishers to intervene and help them clear the hospital bill.
”They have given us only one month to clear the bill after which we will be charged interest, now its the second week, and once the month ends we will now be forced to pay with interest, we fear if interest is charged it will be like the money we are fundraising shall only be for interest and can stay for even one year without settling the bill,” he said.
