In March, Peter Oduor and Mary Anyango were overjoyed to welcome their first child into the world.
Born at the Kilifi Sub-County Hospital on March 9, they named him Travis Oduor.
But their joy was short-lived after doctors informed them that the boy had spina bifida, a condition that affects the spine. It was the start of the horrifying journey.
“At the Kilifi hospital we were told that my son is supposed to undergo an operation but the medical facility was not equipped to conduct it. I was referred to the Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital in Mombasa,” says Ms Anyango.
Coast General is the largest referral hospital in the region and serves Kwale, Kilifi, Taita Taveta, Mombasa and Tana River counties, offering specialised medical services.
“After several rounds, my son was admitted to Coast General in the month of April. On April 18, he successfully underwent his first operation, but we had to stay at the medical facility for three weeks awaiting recovery, and he was set to undergo his second operation,” explains Ms Anyango.
What followed, she says, is a memory hard to erase in her mind.
“On May 9, I was informed by the health practitioners at the facility that my son was now set for his second operation, which involved them operating on his head and navel. The operation had mishaps, although he was transferred to the intensive care unit at Coast General. At around 8pm, I was informed my son had died,” says Ms Anyango.
Her husband, Mr Oduor, notes that by the time of their son’s demise, the hospital bill had accumulated to Sh95,000.
The body is being preserved at the Coast General mortuary. It was to be removed for burial on Saturday, June 24, after Mombasa Cement Company directly paid the morgue bill of Sh25,000. But the medical bill arrears are holding them back.
“We heard that a child under five years old in Mombasa is not supposed to pay any medical bills at any public hospital. We are shocked that the body of a two-month-old baby is now being held back until we pay for the bill,” says Mr Oduor.
Upon raising the same concerns with officials at the medical facility, the grieving parents said that they were asked for their identification documents and whether they were registered as voters in Mombasa.
“I do not know his name, but a man at the finance office noted I cannot be helped because we do not have the voters’ cards as evidence of voting in Mombasa. We have no one to turn to for help. My husband is just a mere boda boda rider, while I work at the Kongowea market as a trader. We tried seeking assistance at the governor’s office, but we have not received any feedback until now,” says Ms Anyango.
Reached for a response, the hospital’s chief executive officer, Dr Iqbal Khandwala, noted in a brief message: “Let me enquire.”
County Health executive Swabah Ahmed said the governor was clear when he made a press release to the media that the people who will benefit from the waiver, whether inpatient, outpatient, or mortuary, and are under five years old, are residents of Mombasa.
“Are they voters in Mombasa? I do not understand why you are calling me, can you go back to Dr Khandwalla,” said Dr Ahmed.
The parents, who have now been forced to postpone the burial once again, claim that on Friday they were told to go back home and will be called back by the hospital.
“We live in Shanzu, which is in Mombasa. We do not understand why we cannot be helped, just because my wife gave birth in Kilifi and not Mombasa or because we did not vote here. The hospital now claims the child’s file is missing. How?” asked Mr Oduor.
The parents are now seeking help from well-wishers to intervene so that they can proceed with the burial preparations.
