Regulator probes Nairobi Hospital over don’s body

KMPDC Chief Executive Officer Daniel Yumbya. FILE PHOTO | NMG

By EDWIN MUTAI
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Summary

• Daniel Yumbya, the KMPDC chief executive told MPs that the council will seek to know why the hospital defied its orders to release the body of the lecturer and a medical doctor who ran several clinics at the Nairobi West Hospital over a Sh11 million medical bill.
• Dr Khasakhala, who was a doctor at the Nairobi West Hospital and lecturer at the UoN was rushed to the Nairobi Hospital in July 2021 unconscious and admitted at the HDU then moved to ICU.

The Nairobi Hospital has been summoned by the medical regulator over detention of a lecturer and subsequently, his body due to a Sh11 million bill.

The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) told Parliament that it will be grilling the Nairobi Hospital management on Tuesday for defying its order to release the body of the University of Nairobi (UoN) lecturer Lincoln Khasakhala.

Daniel Yumbya, the KMPDC chief executive told MPs that the council will seek to know why the hospital defied its orders to release the body of the lecturer and a medical doctor who ran several clinics at the Nairobi West Hospital over a Sh11 million medical bill.

“They defied my orders to release the body. They refused to respond to my letter. I have summoned the hospital management to appear before the council on Tuesday, March 2,” Dr Yumbya said.

He told the National Assembly’s Health Committee that the council was not in the picture on the detention until the family approached it.

Dr Khasakhala, who was a doctor at the Nairobi West Hospital and lecturer at the UoN was rushed to the Nairobi Hospital in July 2021 unconscious and admitted at the HDU then moved to ICU.

After spending two months in the ICU, Dr Khasakhala was moved to the HDU and later to the normal ward where he stayed in a vegetative state until his death.

The committee is inquiring why Nairobi Hospital detained Dr Khasakhala in July 2021 even after the family requested that he be released for homecare, two days after his admission.

The committee is also probing the circumstances under which the hospital detained the body after the don’s death.

The committee met Dr Yumbya, the hospital’s boss, UoN, the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) and Dr Khasakhala’s family. The Nairobi Hospital chief executive James Nyamongo and Dr Khasakhala’s younger brother differed on the circumstances leading to the don’s detention while receiving treatment and after death.

While the Hospital blamed the family for not committing to paying the bills, the family said it provided avenues within which the medical bills would be settled.

“At admission, Dr Khasakhala told the Hospital that he was an employee of UoN with a health cover. He provided his UAP Insurance as the second area financing his medical bill and an NHIF card which the hospital recorded,” Dr Khasakhala’s younger brother, David told MPs via Zoom platform.

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