9 hospitals under probe after Citizen TV expose on detained women

The Ministry of Health has formed a special team to probe cases of patients detained for failing to pay hospital bills.

In a circular seen by Citizen TV, Principal Secretary Susan Mochache tasked the team to probe nine private and public hospitals.

They include Kenyatta National Hospital, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, the Nairobi Hospital, the Aga Khan University Hospital and Mater Hospital among others.

The team is expected to make recommendations within ten days.

This comes after Citizen TV on Monday revealed over 20 women sleeping on the floor after being detained at the Kenyatta National Hospital.

The expose led to an intervention by well-wishers such as Phillip Arungah and Rita Field Marsham who cleared the bills.

Susan Wanjiru for instance, had sent an SMS from KNH to Citizen TV’s 2242 helpline.

Her infant’s bill had amounted to Ksh.40,200 with additional charges of Ksh.1,200.

She only saw her newborn son Francis on Wednesday, for the first time in 3 weeks.

But even as she and others walked free, KNH administration denied that the women had been detained.

The Health Ministry’s special team will also be required to determine the number of bodies in mortuaries being detained over unpaid bills.

The probe team has the mandate to investigate the conditions under which the patients are being held at the hospitals.