42 Kenyans quarantined at Pride Inn stranded after hotel withdrew services

The Pride Inn Lantana Hotel in Nairobi has withdrawn all services to 42 people who had been placed under mandatory quarantine at its facility.

Those in quarantine say they have not been given meals and have been locked out of their hotel rooms.

The decision to withdraw services was occasioned by unpaid bills according to a letter written to the Ministry of Health Director General Patrick Amoth by the Kenyans in quarantine.

The letter dated April 10  noted that the requisite 14-day quarantine at the facility elapsed on April 6.

“We appeal to your office to consider paying the additional costs incurred beyond the initial 14 days. The undersigned guests have incurred great financial loss and will not be able to pay the hotel, Pride Inn Lantana as we look to be discharged soon,”

The latest is a precipitation of a payment row after those in quarantine at the hotel were informed that their quarantine had been extended by a further 14 days.

Dr Patrick Amoth had said some people in isolation centres had close contact with some of those who tested positive for the virus necessitating an extension of their quarantine.

Those in quarantine say they had to part with around Ksh.84,000 for the quarantine period and it had taken a toll on their finances.

On Saturday however, the Ministry of Health’s CAS Dr. Mercy Mwangangi said the ministry was aware of the issue and had dispatched a team to expedite the matter on a case by case basis.

Earlier in the week the government had said plans were underway to close down some quarantine facilities across the country.

The facilities which include among others, the Pride Inn Hotel Lantana were to be closed by April 9.

Those who had tested positive would be taken to health facilities while those whose results were negative would be allowed to go home.