After surviving pneumonia and heart attack, patient now abandoned at home
Philys Barasa, 31, a patient admitted to Kijabe Mission Hospital ICU after suffering a cardiac arrest during treatment for pneumonia.
A family has raised concerns about the post-discharge care of a patient who has been unable to talk, sit, or stand for three months now after experiencing a cardiac arrest at Kijabe Mission Hospital.
The hospital has not provided follow-up care for the breathing and feeding tubes still in the body of Philys Barasa, 31, according to her sister and caregiver Christabella Naliaka.
Ms Barasa was admitted to Kijabe Mission Hospital on December 2, 2024, for what doctors described as "recurrent pneumonia attacks" after previous unsuccessful treatments at other facilities. On December 3, she suffered a heart attack that led to her transfer to the ICU, where she remained for one and a half months.
“The surgical team that operated on my sister on 31st December 2024 has to date refused to review the patient for the last three months, leaving the tracheostomy and peg tubes inside her body that we fear might harm her because they have never changed them. What if she gets an infection?” Ms Naliaka posed.
During the hospitalisation, the family accrued a Sh 2.6 million medical bill, but received only partial coverage: Sh 365,000 from Social Health Authority (SHA) and Sh 750,000 from CIC Insurance, leaving them with a balance of Sh 1,485,000. When unable to pay the balance, Ms Naliaka claims the hospital detained her sister.
This is even after FIDA officially wrote to the Kenya Medical and Pharmacists Dentists Council (KMPDC) on 14th February 2025 and Health CS Deborah Barasa over the illegal detention of the patient. They cited a recent ruling by Justice Lawrence Mugambi on Article 159 of the 2010 constitution that states that detaining patients over unpaid medical bills is a violation of human rights.
“We will reach out to Kijabe Mission Hospital and establish why the patient is being treated like this because every patient has a right to their medical records and a right to decide where to be treated,” KMPDC CEO Dr Daniel Kariuki told Nation in an interview on Tuesday.
The family then provided their home's title deed as security and sought legal intervention through the Federation of Women Lawyers-Kenya (FIDA).
“Despite the patient and families’ communications offering a security arrangement and a structured payment plan to settle the outstanding amount Ms Phylis Barasa remains confined within your facility.
The High Court of Kenya has explicitly ruled that holding patients for financial reasons violates their fundamental rights,” the Federation of Women Lawyers-Kenya (FIDA) told Kijabe Hospital on 12th February this year in an official demand letter in Nation’s possession.
After court intervention, the hospital released Ms. Barasa on March 3. The family purchased equipment totalling Sh 22,000 to maintain her care at home, including a suction machine, peg tube for feeding, and nebuliser (a small machine that turns liquid medicine into a mist that can be easily inhaled) to keep her alive.
"At the moment our biggest headache is that the discharge summary is vague and does not have any clear diagnosis of the patient's illness, which makes it very difficult to get a referral elsewhere," Ms. Naliaka explained.
However, speaking to Nation in a telephone interview on Tuesday, Dr Watson Maina, the Director of Clinical Services at Kijabe Mission Hospital who was tasked to respond to the matter refuted the family's claims that they had neglected the patient.
“After you brought it to our attention, we spoke to the patient’s father on the phone and asked them to come for a checkup on Thursday. We had indicated in the discharge sheet that they can come for a check-up on Thursdays,” he said while assuring that this time round there will be a team to attend to Ms Barasa.
On the diagnosis of the patient which they handed to the family, Dr Maina said that they are very open to explaining all the details to the family and clarifying everything they do not understand.
“It is not true that the patient was not attended to before we discharged her on March 3, we take very good care of our patients.
There is some paperwork they need to sign and so when they come, we will hand back the title deed they brought here as security because they cleared the bill,” the director of clinical services said.
