Activist Boniface Mwangi has now come out to give his side of the story after a video purportedly documenting heated drama at a city hospital went viral on Kenyan Twitter.
Mwangi detailed how a drama he instigated at a local hospital cost him Sh106,000 and earned him board at a local police station in a Facebook post.
According to Mwangi, the story began on August 21, when he and his wife were involved in a car accident along Langata Road in Nairobi.
“We were passengers in a friend’s car when another motorist veered into our lane while speeding and hit our car, which flipped,” Mwangi said
“We landed upside down and the first people on the scene robbed us of our personal effects. Luckily, a good Samaritan couple, Eddu Rono and his wife, Koskey Yuniscah, came to our rescue and took us to a hospital,”
He claims that when he arrived at the facility, the hospital demanded payment before his wife, who he claims was delirious and ‘slipping in and out of consciousness’ at the time, could be attended to.
“I had neither the money, nor my wallet. Emergency health care is a right in the Constitution (Article 43(2)) and in my desperation to get the hospital management to attend to my wife beyond taking her vitals and giving her painkillers, I ended up raising my voice, breaking some things, and causing a scene,” Mwangi added.
According to the activist, his wife only received medical attention after a friend came to the hospital and paid.
“My wife only got the medical attention she needed when my friend came to the hospital and paid the bill. My family and I are grateful that my wife did not suffer serious injuries. The hospital management called the police who arrested me,” Mwangi said.
Mwangi claims he was arrested and detained at the Akila police station shortly after the incident, which included a scuffle with an armed police officer.
Though he did not specify what charges he was facing, Mwangi claims he was released after posting bail.
He also claims to have sought restitution for the drama and damages, including settling for Sh106,000 in damages and apologizing to hospital management.
“The actions that I took to get my wife medical attention were wrong and I apologized. I paid for all the damages that I had caused. The hospital costed the damaged items at KES 106,000.00, which l paid,” he continued.
“I reached out to the people who were working at the reception at the time of the incident and apologized to them. Having fully recovered, my wife is back to work,” In his Facebook post, Mwangi also wondered why Kenyans who end up being first at accident scenes rob victims instead of helping.
“My concerns are; why do most Kenyans who end up being first on the scene of an accident rob instead of help? “
At the same time, he also faulted hospitals for demanding for a deposit in order to administer emergency treatment.
“Why do hospitals require a deposit to administer emergency treatment? Does profit trump life? So many people have died and continue to die in hospital corridors because doctors will not touch them without a deposit. Do we value profit more than human life”? he posed.
