City hospital detains body over Sh5m bill

By NATION CORRESPONDENT, Posted  Wednesday, April 17   2013 at  23:30

A Nairobi hospital has refused to release the body of a man for burial before the widow clears a Sh5.6 million bill.

It has been an agonising seven-month wait for Machakos primary school teacher Redempta Mumina and her four children to bury Mr Washington Mumina Makau.

Mr Makau, a former headteacher of Kasaini Primary School in Mutituni location, died in October last year after an operation at Mater Hospital.

Before his admission to Mater, he was referred from a Machakos hospital to Kenyatta National Hospital in June after he was diagnosed with a heart problem.

“At Kenyatta Hospital, he could not get a cardiologist on time and was referred to Mater Hospital. An operation was carried out but he died, leaving a bill of Sh5.6 million,” said his elder brother Stanley Makau.

The Mater Hospital, however, said they could not collect the body for burial unless they paid three quarters of the total bill — Sh3.9 million.

“We sold our belongings and raised Sh400,000. Last Saturday, a fundraiser raised Sh500,000 but it was not enough for them to release the body,” recalls the widow.

But the Mater Hospital administration said on Wednesday it was ready to release Mr Makau’s body to his family for burial after a meeting with the relatives.

The hospital’s chief executive officer, through his  personal assistant, Ms Christine Bosire, said they were ready to meet the family and find a way of solving the issue
.