Health care sick, can’t find itself an ICU bed

I spent six hours on Wednesday night at Kenyatta National Hospital with a friend who had suffered a Transient Ischemic Attack (stroke). Fourteen exhausting hours later, she was discharged. She was lucky. Road accident victim Hannah Njoki didn’t make it. Three days after being brought in, KNH still hadn’t found an ICU bed for her.

Without the money to access private emergency health care, she died on Tuesday. We need to ask what fails Hannah and all patients denied health care and how we can fix this. Kenya has made some of the most important declarations on the right to health on paper.