- The patient, a Form 4 student, was admitted for emergency care management of TB meningitis.
- The court heard that as of May 14, the patient's medical bill had risen to Sh24 million, Sh6.1 million of which was paid by a well-wisher.
Image: FILE
The Aga Khan University Hospital is seeking court consent to discharge a patient and have her transferred to a different hospital for failure to clear an accrued medical bill of over Sh3 million.
The patient, a Form 4 student, was admitted for emergency care management of TB meningitis.
She was brought to the hospital on February 11 as a self-referral from Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital.
She has since stabilised following the management and care she has received from the hospital.
The court heard that as of May 14, the patient's medical bill had risen to Sh24 million, Sh6.1 million of which was paid by a well-wisher.
The hospital, realising the family's financial constraints and inability to settle the hospital the remionder of the bill, enrolled the patient to its welfare programme.
Court documents indicate that the welfare committee reached a decision to waive 78 per cent of the incurred bill, a sum of Sh13.5 million, but the patient's family was still unable to settle the balance of Sh3.8 million.
"Despite numerous meetings and telephone conversations with the mother, she has withheld consent for the transfer of the patient to an affordable healthcare facility or nursing home and the petitioner is unable to transfer the patient despite the fact that the hospital bill is skyrocketing," Aga Khan University Hospital advocate Benard Chenge said.
On Tuesday, the lawyer told Justice Chacha Mwita that they attempted to have a discussion with the family of the patient "but we were unable to have a meeting of minds".
The mother of the patient who appeared in court virtually told the Judge that she would want to file a response to the case instituted by the hospital but she is not in a position to.
She asked the court whether they could provide her with a state lawyer, which the Judge said would not be easy as the matter in court was not of criminal nature.
He advised the mother of the patient to reach out to organizations like Kituo cha Sheria to help her out with the case.
At the same time, the Judge urged the parties to see whether they can hold talks and resolve the matter out of court.
He, however, gave the mother of the patient 14 days to file a response to the case and scheduled June 28 as the mention date to confirm progress.
The hospital says it is worried that the inability to settle the bill will affect its operations for reasons of inability to procure drugs and settle the professional fees for its staff.
The hospital is seeking an order to discharge the patient for further healthcare and management at a facility that the family may request -especially one that will at least be within their means.
Alternatively, they seek to have the court grant consent to refer the patient to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) for further healthcare and management in accordance with the provisions of Kenya Health Sector Referral Implementation, 2014.