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Article

1 Mar 2017

Author:
Jillo Kadida, The Star (Kenya)

Kenya: Woman sues Nairobi West Hospital for unlawfully detaining her for failure to pay medical bill

"Woman sues Nairobi West hospital for detaining her over Sh850,000 bill"

A mother has sued Nairobi West hospital seeking unconditional release after being detained over Sh850,000 unsettled bill. Veronicah Nyangai says she was denied the chance to bury her baby for 60 days. Though the body of the child has been released to the family, the mother is still being detained in hospital. The case was filed at Milimani law court and the hospital is yet to respond as it was only lodged at the registry on Tuesday.

Nyangai says her troubles began when she was admitted to Mary Immaculate hospital with pregnancy related complications. The woman says she was forced to seek services at Nairobi West hospital since the previous facility did not have incubators. She was operated on and delivered a baby girl on December 19, 2016, but was informed that the child died the following day...

Nyangai argues that the hospital continued to detain the body unlawfully from December 23, 2016, until February 22. "While this was happening, the facility charged her mortuary fees, blocked her from leaving despite discharging her on December 23," the court was told on Tuesday. "The petitioner was forced to move from the maternity section barely a week after her surgery by two police officers bearing AK 47 rifles," she states in her suit papers. "This was on the instruction of the respondents. I was taken to a room that was not a ward," Nyangai says, adding that the hospital also rejected the family's offer towards settling the bill.