Peter Mwaiseghe, his wife Robi Matano and their three-month-old baby at Mombasa Hospital. [Photo/ Steve Mwalily]
When Peter Mwaiseghe’s wife, Robi Matano, found out she was pregnant with their fifth child, the couple decided the new bundle of joy would be their last-born.However, what was expected to bring joy has turned out to be a burden to the family.Mwaiseghe has been forced to sell his car to raise money to clear a hospital bill after his wife went into labour at six months.Robi went into labour in July 2017 and was taken to Bomu Hospital in Mombasa.She, however, had to deliver the premature baby through a caesarean section due to complications.After the delivery, doctors told her she would have to be transferred to the Coast General Hospital because the baby had to be kept in an incubator for one month.Unfortunately, health services at the public facility had been paralysed due to the ongoing nurses’ strike, forcing the family to seek services at the Mombasa Hospital, a private facility.“The baby was kept in an incubator for one and a half months but she is now ok. We were discharged in August but the bill was too high so I have been detained here since then,” said Robi.After receiving donations from family members, well-wishers and friends, Mwaiseghe managed to pay the hospital Sh1 million but is yet to clear the Sh 2 million balance.“I sold my car at Sh300,000 because I did not have any other option. My employer could not give me a loan because I had already taken one of Sh100,000,” said Mwaiseghe, during an interview with this writer.He said they later decided to create a WhatsApp group ‘Baby Roby’ to mobilise friends and family to make donations.“I made some of my friends admins of the group and they have been helping by adding other people. We have managed to raise Sh300,000 this month through the group,” he added.Robi revealed that the hospital charges them 6,000 daily for the ward and food.The baby girl named Amina Mambori is now three months old.The family is pleading to anyone who can offer assistance to send their donations to Peter Mwaiseghe’s personal number 0723710828 or Safaricom pay bill number 175900 with your phone number as the account number.