By JUDY OGUTU
A man allegedly detained at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) over a medical bill of Sh1.2 million wants the court to order his discharge.
Mr Nathan Shimwenyi has filed an urgent suit at the High Court in Nairobi, saying he is in need of an urgent operation to save his right leg.
His right foot, he told Justice Mumbi Ngugi Thursday, is now drooping after its major nerves were damaged permanently “due to not being treated yet he continues to be held at the hospital”.
His advocate, Carol Mburugu, beseeched the judge to intervene, saying the hospital has breached his right not to be detained arbitrarily.
He has sued KNH, the Attorney General and Minister for Medical Services.
Shimwenyi, who works for the American Embassy, was involved in a road accident where he sustained severe injuries to his pelvis and stomach.
“They did the first operation on him on April 14. He was sedated for 27 days and he was in the Intensive Care Unit. The bill accumulated to Sh1.2 million and the staff said he required a second operation but they could not operate unless and until the bill was cleared,” submitted his lawyer.
She claimed KNH has continued to hold him without treating him yet the bill has continued to accumulate.
The treatment Shimwenyi is receiving at KNH, she further argued, was inhuman and degrading.
Willing to pay
The court also heard that he was willing to pay the bill, as he had given the hospital a proposal on how to pay it. He had also surrendered a title deed as security but the hospital’s lawyers turned it down.
He had, she also contended, been denied access to his medical records and a doctor who examined him said if his pelvis bone is not fixed and if he also does not receive physiotherapy, he may not be able to work again.
