A family from Ol Rongai, Rongai, in Nakuru county is distraught by the detention of their father’s body for four months over a Sh5.5 million hospital bill.
Humphrey Kigera Mwai, 72, succumbed to Covid-19 on October 6, 2021, and his body has been held since then as his family has been unable to raise the medical fees.
“My father was admitted to Nakuru Nursing Home on September 4, 2021, and we managed to pay a Sh90,000 deposit. He stayed in ICU for one month and two days until he passed away on October 6. The bill was Sh5.5 million. We are distressed,” daughter Grace Kigera told the Star on Friday.
Mwai was a subsistence farmer. His father, Duncan Mwai Macharia, was a cook at State House during President Jomo Kenyatta regime until 1984, when he retired.
They took the body to Umash mortuary, where it remains. That bill has also accumulated to Sh138,000.
“We as a family have tried in vain to seek for a waiver from our Governor Lee Kinyanjui but he said it was not possible to give a waiver as the hospital is private,” Grace said.
In another attempt to get the body and bury their father, the family organised a harambee and only managed to raise Sh250,000. The hospital said the amount was too small for them to make any payment arrangement.
