New bid to fundraise for Kenyan patient ejected out of plane

Friends of Wangari Ndumia (Nyeri Elites) at Ruiru Bus Stage. [Anyango Otieno, Standard]

A woman who was thrown out of a flight due to ill health was finally flown to India even as her friends look for more money to cater for her specialised treatment.

In May this year, Wangari Ndumia was bundled out of a flight to India together with her sister after differences emerged on her fitness to fly.

While her sister, Ann Ndumia, insisted that Wangari was healthy enough to take the flight that was making a stop in Abu Dhabi before connecting to Delhi, India, airline officials claimed she was not fit.

The two sisters had already boarded the plane and were waiting for the flight attendants to allocate Wangari a seat with enough leg room when they were ordered out of the plane.

But on Wednesday last week, Wangari was finally flown out of the country by Ethiopian Airlines after friends and family conducted a fundraiser last month where they raised Sh500,000.

Wangari’s friends, going by the name Nyeri Elites, have organised a 631-kilometre walk to raise funds for her treatment. By last week, the group had collected a further Sh300,000 through the walk which began on June 13.

Funds target

The group hopes to raise at least Sh2.5 million although they fear Wangari’s hospital bill might shoot up to Sh3.9 million.

“We thought that it might be too late and she would probably lose her leg if she waited for us to complete the walk. We therefore decided to fly her out to commence treatment while we raise more funds,” said Kariithi Wambui, who is taking part in the walk.

The group estimates that the walk will take one-and-a-half months, taking them from Nyeri through Nairobi to Mombasa.

“Wherever we pass through homesteads to ask for money, we have to explain our mission and why we need the money,” said another member of the group.

By yesterday, the group had walked to Nairobi.

Wangari was involved in an accident in November 2017 which led to her being hospitalised for a year in Mombasa and Nairobi.

An authorisation letter from the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) signed by Dr Samson Kuhora indicated that she had been diagnosed with an infection of the bone as well as massive bone loss.

According to Ms Wambui, Wangari had been surviving on antibiotics and pain killers as her condition worsened and the infection spread from the knee to the thighbone of her left leg.