A hit-and-run victim who has had to spend 112 days in a hospital over a Sh1 million bill is finally free to go home.
Dennis Omondi has been detained at Radiant Hospital in Pangani because he could not raise the money to offset the bill.
On Wednesday, Amensty International threatened to take legal action against the hospital for illegally holding the patient.
According to Omondi, he had asked the hospital to give him three months after which he would pay Sh25,000 per month.
“I promised in writing to start paying Sh25,000 a month or whatever I could after I recovered because currently I have nothing. They refused,” Omondi said.
He also noted that he had been asked to pay Sh500,000 before being released. In his bank account, he only had some Sh21,000.
Amnesty International after contacting the facility, asked that the bill be slashed to about Sh860,000.
Celebrating the win, the rights organisation urged hospitals to look for patient-centred mechanisms for debt recovery.
Thank you to all of you who retweeted, carried, and shared this story! We’re pleased that Dennis Bwire Omondi has been released! Receiving treatment should not lead to a prison sentence #HospitaliSiJela pic.twitter.com/X6bCD9bTsV
— Amnesty Kenya (@AmnestyKenya) July 23, 2020
The NGO also asked Parliament to formulate a law that will protect the patient from illegal detention.
“Unlawful detention should not be normalised by health institutions. The unlawful detention has left Bwire traumatized, depressed and fearful,” Amnesty International Executive Director Irungu Houghton said.
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