After more than month of being detained at a hospital with her dead twins, Judith Amoit could not withhold her tears as she finally walked to freedom on Thursday evening.
Amoit, a police officer, detained at Nairobi West Hospital together with the bodies of her set of twins over a Sh3 million was released after National Police Service (NPS) intervened. The officer attached to a police station in Kitui County was admitted to the hospital on July 28 after developing pregnancy-related complications.
“I was only seven months pregnant but the doctors informed me that I was due for delivery. I had the first delivery normally but had to be taken in for cesarean section for the second child,” says Amoit.
The deliveries went well and the children were kept in an incubator. Unfortunately, the premature babies developed infections inside the incubator and died last month. Each child left a medical bill of Sh1.3 million. With time the bill shot to more than Sh3 million.
The NPS came to Amoit’s aid after The Standard highlighted her plight on Wednesday. And now she can breathe easy.
“I am grateful to NPS for coming to my rescue. I am also grateful to the media, my family and all Kenyans for their support,” says Amoit.
Now at peace
Amoit says Mr Kingori Mwangi, the principal assistant to the Deputy Inspector General of police and the chairperson of the Police Medical Fund yesterday sent an officer to clear her bill.
“Mr King’ori sent an officer to clear my bills and at around 4pm. I couldn’t wait to go home,” she says.
Mr King’ori had earlier said they were working on a way to settle the bills given that the regulations guiding medical emergency payments were limiting. The maximum amount allowed by the 1985 regulations is up to Sh50, 000. I have called for a meeting with the regional coordinators to review the regulations,” he said. He said the graveness of Amoit’s case pushed them to bend the rules and pay the entire amount.
“You cannot blame us, our hands were tied. But given the weight of this matter, we had to find a solution to enable Amoit’s release,” he said.
Meanwhile, Amoit is now at peace and says she looks forward to reporting back to work once her maternity leave is over.
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