EXPOSED: ROGUE HOSPITALS!

When illness knocks on your door, you must contend with the fact that sickness is not so courteous as to wait for your response; it simply hits you, sometimes hard, that your body is not what it normally feels like, and it certainly does not feel like your own.

For more than a year, a major scandal has been brewing in the health sector, orchestrated by rogue businessmen seeking profits while posing as caring medical providers to innocent patients in need of genuine care. They are using the avenue for money minting.

'Doctors treat, but God heals,' is a phrase that has taken on an entirely fresh meaning as we see the rot in the very hospitals that are intended to be our main sources of hope from the agony we go through while seeking treatment. 

Many patients find themselves between a draining sickness and a sick system since the government has not been paying National Health Insurance Fund, NHIF, monies to private facilities as the figures of unpaid monies stand at about 20 billion shillings.

As a result, millions, if not billions of shillings are likely to have been lost to corrupt hospitals with a penchant for public funds through dirty dealings, dealings that have left many devastated, many more reeling in pain while others are relegated to eternal hollowness.

It is tragic that some of these private hospitals are at the center of a scheme to defraud the NHIF fund while inflicting unimaginable pain on innocent ailing people who seek healing but are subjected to inhumanity and the bitter fruits of corruption. 

Mwebia M'Miriti, a man who hails from Meru county, recounts the tragic death of his beloved wife saying how a group people were going around the village claiming to treat people suffering from arthritis. Mr. Mwebia, his late wife Catherine and other villagers with the same problem were taken to Nkubu Stadium, where every individual was told to express how they felt.

Mr. Mwebia was then told that he needed to go somewhere else to get an x-ray of his back because they didn't have one and return with the results, but he resulted not to go.

IN-FRAME: MR MWEBIA M'MIRITI

Mr. Mwebia then explained how his wife felt, and she was told that she needed an x-ray from a private hospital in Chuka that Mr. Mwebia was unaware of. She was then told she needed leg surgery and was taken to Nairobi for the procedure that same day she visited the private facility.

Despite Mr. Mwebia's wife expressing pain in one of her legs on occasion, she never sought medical attention and instead relieved it with an ointment. As a result, they decided to attend this free medical outreach event that was taking place near their homes.

He then stated that they did not pay anything and were simply asked for their NHIF card, with a message sent to him stating that his card accepts Ksh.300,000.

Mr. Mwebia recalls calling his wife after her surgery at St. Peter's Orthopedic Hospital, unaware that it would be their final conversation. He had no idea where the hospital was, but had been informed it was located in Nairobi.

He was then asked where he wanted his wife's body taken because their hospital did not have a mortuary, and they sent it to Nkubu town as Mr. Mwebia requested without charging him a single penny. 

Douglas Kiraithe, on the other hand, is a victim of the bitter fruits of corruption. Mr. Douglas describes how a woman approached them and told them to meet at Ntharene market, where she took them through the process of being taken to a hospital that has treated and healed people with arthritis.  

It was music to their ears because they all had hope that their arthritis problem was finally coming to an end and that the treatment would be covered by their NHIF card. 

They were then subjected to tests at Jeckim Hospital Nkubu and then told what medical attention they required.

A group of 16 people were then given free transportation to Nairobi for treatment and were taken to various hospitals, their destination unknown.

Mr. Douglas described how they were driven around the city in the middle of the night looking for hospitals before arriving at Joy Nursing and Maternity. Their original Identification Card and NHIF card were the only requirements. 

Only 10 of the 16 were brought to this facility and were told that they would not be able to find space to sleep and would have to sit in the waiting bay, which was far from the welcome Mr. Douglas expected after spending hours on the road in a hired public serviced vehicle. 

Despite arriving late in the middle of the night and receiving poor services, their spirits were not dampened because they were here for treatment.

Mr. Douglas describes how he was injected in his right thigh and given 30 tablets before receiving a message at 7 p.m. that he had been discharged and that Ksh. 130,000 had been paid using his NHIF card.

He went on to say that he never saw the doctor who was supposed to check on their x-ray results, but that the x-ray result forms were given to them by the driver before they were dropped off at the facility.

The Joy Nursing Home had obtained the NHIF money on the basis that they had performed surgery on Kiraithe and some of the other patients, which was false because Kiraithe claims he has never had any type of surgery.

Mr. Douglas Kiraithe stated that Winfred Kathure was the one who lured them into the trap, and that every time he spoke to various journalists, the lady would appear in an attempt to put out the looming fire before it ignited. 

Kainda Antuarithi, an 80-year-old woman, is also among the many victims, and her daughter Grace Jaruma recounts how her mother was subjected to x-rays for three consecutive days before being told she needed an operation because her leg was infected with pus. 

She was then transported for free to Nairobi, where she was operated and a message sent to her that she had been charged Ksh. 300,000. They were taken back to Nkubu with others, all of whom were unable to walk.

Kainda and her daughter Grace Karuma.

Hariet Miraitho and Agusta Gatwiri are among the many victims of these heinous acts.

With only injections and less than 24 hours after arriving at the hospital, NHIF paid Ksh. 130,000 for Gatwiri, which she later on regretted because her husband had earlier on cautioned her that the information appeared too good to be true. 

The treatment she sought in the hopes of being completely cured only left her with severe back pains.

IN-FRAME:AGUSTA GATWIRI

In a much similiar case, Hariet Miraitho has been paralyzed by a single needle. She recalls not being charged a single shilling for any of the services provided by Joy Nursing Home.

Hariet was surprised that the Joy Nursing Home staff continued to administer the injections despite her NHIF card being inoperable. She became concerned and inquired as to how they would be compensated despite the fact that they had already injected her, but received no response. She has never been told to pay anything to date.

Three days after returning home, she began to experience leg pain that spread to her back and was rushed to Nkubu Hospital, where she was admitted. 

After being discharged, she realized that the injections she received at Joy Nursing Home had left her legs paralyzed.

IN-FRAME:HARIET MIRAITHO 

It's unfortunate that Hariet's life has been significantly disrupted, along with the lives of the other victims.

It took one man, Salesio Thuranira, to expose a string of medical fraud and endangering lives by highlighting the issue on his social media accounts, which went viral. 

According to Mr. Salesio Thuranira, people posing as medics are targeting elderly men and women in villages, particularly those with leg or knee problems and labeling it arthritis.

After the 'sent' lady has scouted them, the criteria she employs is to first determine if the person has a problem and, second, whether the person has an active NHIF card. This gives them enough convincing power to summon them to a chief's camp and lie to them about the program being run by the president in order to make it more realistic.

When the deal is good, think twice!