It was great joy for over 50 women who had been detained for months at the Thika Level 5 Hospital over unpaid maternity bills after the Kiambu County government waived the debt amounting to Sh6 million.
The mothers, some who had been held at the facility since August last year, expressed their relief saying they will finally be able to reunite with their families.
They said the economic hard times coupled with the inefficiencies in the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) system made them unable to foot the bills.
Others lacked any insurance cover saying in the previous deliveries they relied on the Linda Mama programme to cover maternity bills and lamented that the programme eventually collapsed.
The mothers also received monetary support from Embakasi North MP James Gakuya, with each receiving Sh10,000 to support their livelihoods.
Speaking to journalists at the facility, the mothers, led by Rachel Mbogo, whose child had run a bill of Sh196,000 said had the county government not waived the debt, she would have been held at the facility for years.
She said she would at least be able to unite with the family after months of absence.
“If this waiver didn’t come through, where would I have gotten Sh196,000 at once. While it was wrong for the hospital to hold us here for such a long period, at least, we are now free,” Mbogo said.
Mary Munge, another mother who too had been held at the facility for months, cited lack of proper sensitization on healthcare schemes, which she has vowed to enroll in, saying that had she been enrolled in one, the burden would not have been that huge.
“Most of us mothers don’t have insurance covers and sometimes we can’t afford to foot maternity bills due to the huge financial burdens facing the country. This is a wake-up call for us to register in these schemes,” said Munge.
The County Executive Committee member for Health, Dr Elias Maina, said the county has been issuing waivers for mothers over the past few months, citing Sh3 million in August 2024 and Sh4.1 million in September last year.
MP Gakuya who later addressed journalists at the facility, called on the government to fully implement the new healthcare systems to reduce the suffering of Kenyans most of whom are yet to begin enjoying the Social Health Authority (SHA) benefits.
He also called on the Health Ministry to conduct visits at hospitals to monitor and get firsthand experience on SHA inefficiencies.
By Muoki Charles
