Kenyan man stuck in India for three months over Sh1.5m hospital bill

A Kenyan man has been stuck in an Indian hospital for three months over an unpaid Sh1.5m hospital bill.

According to his children Linnet Wambui, 22, an engineering student at Technical University of Kenya and her brother Joseph Kariuki, 23, who is studying actuarial science at Kisii University, their father went to New Delhi, India for a kidney transplant.

Speaking to Nation.co.ke, Ms Wambui that her 52 year old father, Mr George Mundia Kariuki, a businessman from Nanyuki, developed a kidney problem in September 2014 prompting him to seek medical attention.

He went to Ladnan Hospital in Pangani where he was advised to undergo dialysis twice a week, each session costing him Sh7,500.

“Every week he would spend more than Sh17,000 on treatment,” said Ms Wambui.

This went on until on July 17, 2015 when Mr Mundia flew to India for a transplant.

He was accompanied by his younger brother, Mr John Gitau, who offered to donate a kidney.

The family was able to raise up to Sh2.5 million to facilitate the travel and the initial hospital bill, after holding three fundraisers.

Mr Mundia underwent a successful surgery but things turned southwards when he developed complications over the compatibility of the new organ and his body.

“We were told that his body seemed to be rejecting the new kidney and that he had to be put under intensive care,” narrated his daughter.

He was expected back in the country in September but his condition failed to improve as expected and his period in the intensive care unit was extended by three weeks, which made the hospital bill rise further.

His donor however travelled back home as planned, leaving him under the hospital’s care.

VISA EXPIRED

His visa expired while he was still in hospital but the Foreign Affairs ministry intervened and sorted out the visa issue.

This was the only time the family heard from the Kenyan government.

Mr Mundia has since recuperated and is out of the ICU, but the unsettled bill bars him from leaving the hospital, which has confiscated his travel documents.

His daughter said that her father is in good condition but he is staying in the hospital hostels where they continue to bill him.

“We have tried raising the money through all channels but things are getting tougher by the day,” she said, desperation evident in her.

She said that the family has sold their parcel of land as part of the efforts to raise the money but it still is not enough to cater for the bill and other costs, including their school fees.

“Our mum passed on when we were very young and our father has raised us single handed.

“Right now we just want to bring him home and take care of him until he recovers fully,” she added.

The siblings are now appealing to well-wishers to help bring back their father home.

They have registered an M-Pesa pay bill number 891300 account number 4987.

“We are appealing to anyone out there to help us bring our father back home,” says an emotional Linnet.