A family in Teachers area on the outskirts of Nakuru town is in agony as they cannot bury their daughter three weeks after she passed on due to an outstanding hospital bill.
Despite early preparations from the family, close friends and neighbors to lay to rest the deceased by purchasing a casket and digging a grave, the body has been detained by a hospital.
Loise Wanja's body has been lying at Mater Hospital morgue in Nairobi since her demise after the family failed to pay a medical bill amounting to Sh10 million.
“My daughter started having heart problems and prescribed drugs were not functioning while she was being treated at Kenyatta and Nakuru heart center before being referred to Mater Hospital. On full examination at the hospital it was established that her two valves had clogged and was to undergo an open heart surgery which was to cost Sh1.2 million,” Edward Ng'ang'a, the father, said.
The family then held a fundraiser and were able to raise Sh1.5 million but doctors later postponed the operation due to its complexity and decided to wait for a visiting doctor who was to come from abroad.
On July 30, Wanja was successfully operated but later developed live injuries, kidney and lung failures forcing her to be placed under the ICU where she stayed for 58 days until her death.
After her death, the family was directed by the hospital management to pay three-quarters of the outstanding bill which totals up to Sh7 million.
“Our appeal is to the hospital to release the body so that we can bury our daughter,” said the father.
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