Families sink into debt as they seek services in private facilities
Nurses protest outside Afya House on September 11, 2017. Patients have now turned to private health facilities for treatment. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The bill is Sh500,000 but she raised Sh300,000 through a fundraiser and she is yet to get the balance.
Families of patients are sinking deeper in debt as they seek medical services in private hospitals, following the health workers’ strike.
Ms Daisy Nekesa, 18, is among those whose families are suffering.
She is detained at Aga Khan Hospital in Kisumu after she underwent surgery last month.
EXAMS
The Form Four student at Moto Secondary School in Molo, Nakuru County, has been suffering from kidney failure for two years.
Her mother, Ms Selina Nasimiyu, on Friday said her daughter may be forced to forego the KCSE exams scheduled for next month if they do not raise the money needed to clear her hospital bill.
The bill is Sh500,000 but she raised Sh300,000 through a fundraiser and she is yet to get the balance.
“My husband and I have been reduced to beggars as we knock on doors pleading for help,” she said.
DIALYSIS
Prior to the strike, Ms Nekesa had been receiving treatment at public hospitals in Nakuru.
Last year, Nekesa underwent dialysis treatment at Nakuru Level Five Hospital while she was admitted in and out of Molo sub county hospital from January to November.
Ms Florence Kabii, a director at St Joseph’s Nursing and Maternity Home, said the hospital has been experiencing an increasing number of patients who need urgent medical care but do not have the money to pay the bills.
