The death of prominent Lawyer Evans Monari brought to the surface the pain millions of Kenyans are going through when it comes to hospital bills. The lawyer died at Nairobi hospital after a long illness. He was a Lawyer to President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Mr. Monari was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for just four weeks. At the time of his death, his hospital bill had moved past 16 million shillings. This means the hospital was charging him at least 4 million shillings per week and 500,000 shillings per day.
4 weeks in hospital = Ksh 16 million? That is Ksh 4 million per week, around 570k per day. 😭😭 How do these hospitals justify their bills?
— Juma G 🇰🇪 (@jumaf3) October 5, 2021
His death has set in motion a discussion on just how some hospitals are burdening Kenyans with unrealistic hospital bills and just how unaffordable health is in Kenya. Despite efforts by the government on universal health coverage, nothing to be proud of on the ground.
If you are poor in this country, don’t be sick. You will die. If you are middle-class, don’t be sick. You will go to the hospital, use all your savings, taken loans, then die, leaving your family with debts that they will never pay. Health is for the filthy rich.
Medical Bill hunipea wasiwasi sana. Tunafaa kukuwa na medical reforms hii country.
— Sir-Rap-A-Lot (@Osama_otero) October 5, 2021
Read More: Lawyer Evans Monari Dies At Nairobi Hospital
Now imagine, if a lawyer of the President of the Republic of Kenya cannot afford to pay a hospital bill, what about the poor Kenyans? What are the poor doing? Taking painkillers and dying in silence? You can see the silence from those in power. They do not care.
There are some hospitals in Kenya, if you do not have money, please do not take your kin there. And if it is you being taken there, refuse and be taken to another hospital. They are more of business establishments that have targets on how much to mine out of you.
A lady on Twitter says that her family took her grandfather to Aga Khan. The old man had Covid-19. The hospital demanded that they first make a deposit of one million shillings. The family did not have the money. The old man died.
Read More: Quit-Or-Die Approach An Ill-Advised Gamble For Public Health
99 percent of Kenyans right now are just a hospital bill away from poverty. The moment you enter a Kenyan hospital, chances of you becoming poor increase by over 90 percent.
Who will save us?