Over 100 mothers detained at Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital over unpaid bills

More than a hundred new mothers at the Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital are stranded, days after giving birth, as they’re unable to leave due to unpaid medical bills.

Most of the women who spoke to Citizen TV are teenage mothers from Kayole, while two others are from neighboring countries.

The mothers say the bills are far beyond their reach, but the hospital insists it is caught between compassion and sustainability, blaming some of the patients for poor planning and failure to register under the Social Health Authority (SHA) that would have sorted their bills.

“Rafiki yangu alikuja kujifungua, saa hii ni 1 month 2 weeks na wakati alipewa discharge alinipigia simu akaniambia amepewa discharge lakini hana anything. Tukajaribu kutafuta kama majirani tukapata Ksh.4,000 nikamletea but akaambiwa aende social work juu hiyo haitoshi,” Diana Odhiambo said.

Two women who spoke to Citizen TV on phone, and who claimed to be from Uganda and Tanzania, said their bills amount to more than Ksh.100,000.

Fredrick Obwanda, the hospital’s CEO, says the growing number of unpaid bills has put immense strain on their operations.

The CEO noted that many of the detained mothers have not enrolled for the government’s new SHA scheme, which could have covered part of their costs.

“If you do not want to register for SHA then the other alternative is for you to pay cash. We are insisting on that because if we allow a situation where everybody comes in, gets services for free and walks out, and I take care of over 3,000 patients in a day, this institution will shut down. And when it shuts, it will be a bigger crisis,” said Obwanda.

He said it’s often difficult to tell which are genuine cases, noting that some patients go straight to level five hospitals, yet their conditions could be managed at lower-level facilities at little or no cost under primary healthcare.

“Some have gone for surgeries, so waiving means the institution loses Ksh.2 million per day, and in a week we are talking about Ksh.10 million plus. And hemorrhaging like that financially, the institution will fall. Hence the need for all of us as citizens to do what is right—there is a plan, register for SHA,” stated Obwanda.

The hospital said it continues to incur additional costs feeding and accommodating the mothers as they await clearance.

As debate continues on whether hospitals should hold patients over unpaid bills, these women continue to wait.