Rongai widow breathes relief as hospital releases husband’s body for burial after six years
A portrait of Humphrey Kigera who has been buried after six year of the deceased body being held at Umash funeral home over hospital and morgue bill.
Sometimes in 2023 Mtaa Wangu team visited Eunice Nyambura Kigera’s home in Olrongai village in Rongai Sub County. She was still in despair with the unsettling reality of her penury state which could not allow him burry her husband body which was still detained at the Umash funeral home over unpaid hospital and mortuary fees
At the time the body of her husband Humphrey Kigera had been stuck in the morgue for two years after he succumbed to from Covid 19 on October 6,2021. All she hoped for was a day she could lay her husband to rest.
Nyambura’s husband had been admitted at the Nakuru Nursing home Intensive care unit (ICU) at the time of his death.
Humphrey Kigera widow Eunice Nyambura Kigera speaks on her closer after receiving her husband's body after six years of being held in the morgue
An official invoice from Nakuru Nursing Home seen by Mtaa Wangu at the time, showed that the total bill for Kigera’s treatment from September 4, 2021 to October 6, 2021 was Sh5.5 million. With an additional, morgue bill at Sh 1,137,000 as of September 19,2023.
Since then, the morgue bill had amounted to Sh 3.5 million bringing the total bill to Sh 9 million.
However, Nyambura has now a reason to smile after the body was released by the morgue this weekend and burial arrangements commenced, after six years and nine months wait.
Speaking while at the facility Nyambura recalled how agonizing it was for her two daughters who kept asking if a day would come and their father would be buried.
“We would sit at home and just stare at my husband’s photo mount and cry as a family. This delay inflicted so much pain for my family. I am grateful to God that this is now behind us,” she noted happily.
Expressing their family’s frustration, Kigera’s daughter Grace Ngima noted that despite having a court order the mortuary staff had been insistent on seeing a burial permit further delaying the burial plans yet people had been waiting at home and funeral arrangements had kicked off.
The body of Humphrey Kigera leaving Umash funeral home after six year of the deceased being held at Umash funeral home over hospital and morgue bill.
“It took the intervention of Nakuru based lawyer Laurence Karanja to push them to either sign the court order, that they will not be releasing the body to us or release the body for burial. Finally, we can now have closer as a family,” Ngima noted
Former Bahati Member of Parliament Kimani Ngunjiri said he was touched by the family's predicament and joined efforts aimed at securing the release of the deceased's body.
Ngunjiri called for urgent reforms to stop hospitals and mortuaries from detaining bodies over unpaid medical bills, arguing that grieving families should be allowed to bury their loved ones while any financial disputes are pursued separately through the courts.
"The dead cannot defend themselves, and families should not be denied the opportunity to give their loved ones a dignified burial because of debts. Such matters can still be addressed through the legal process after the burial has taken place," said Ngunjiri.