Kenya hospital imprisons new mothers with no money
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - The director of the Pumwani Maternity Hospital, located in a hardscrabble neighborhood of downtown Nairobi, freely acknowledges what he's accused of: detaining mothers who can't pay their bills. Lazarus Omondi says it's the only way he can keep his medical center running.
Two mothers who live in a mud-wall and tin-roof slum a short walk from the maternity hospital, which is affiliated with the Nairobi City Council, told The Associated Press that Pumwani wouldn't let them leave after delivering their babies. The bills the mothers couldn't afford were $60 and $160. Guards would beat mothers with sticks who tried to leave without paying, one of the women said.
Now, a New York-based group has filed a lawsuit on the women's behalf in hopes of forcing Pumwani to stop the practice, a practice Omondi is candid about.
"We hold you and squeeze you until we get what we can get. We must be self-sufficient," Omondi said in an interview in his hospital office. "The hospital must get money to pay electricity, to pay water. We must pay our doctors and our workers."
"They stay there until they pay. They must pay," he said of the 350 mothers who give birth each week on average. "If you don't pay the hospital will collapse."
The Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the suit this month in the High Court of Kenya, says detaining women for not paying is illegal. Pumwani is associated with the Nairobi City Council, one reason it might be able to get away with such practices, and the patients are among Nairobi's poorest with hardly anyone to stand up for them.
Maimouna Awuor was an impoverished mother of four when she was to give birth to her fifth in October 2010. Like many who live in Nairobi's slums, Awuor performs odd jobs in the hopes of earning enough money to feed her kids that day. Awuor, who is named in the lawsuit, says she had saved $12 and hoped to go to a lower-cost clinic but was turned away and sent to Pumwani. After giving birth, she couldn't pay the $60 bill, and was held with what she believes was about 60 other women and their infants.
"We were sleeping three to a bed, sometimes four," she said. "They abuse you, they call you names," she said of the hospital staff.
She said saw some women tried to flee but they were beaten by the guards and turned back. While her husband worked at a faraway refugee camp, Awuor's 9-year-old daughter took care of her siblings. A friend helped feed them, she said, while the children stayed in the family's 50-square-foot shack, where rent is $18 a month. She says she was released after 20 days after Nairobi's mayor paid her bill. Politicians in Kenya in general are expected to give out money and get a budget to do so.
A second mother named in the lawsuit, Margaret Anyoso, says she was locked up in Pumwani for six days in 2010 because she could not pay her $160 bill. Her pregnancy was complicated by a punctured bladder and heavy bleeding.
"I did not see my child until the sixth day after the surgery. The hospital staff were keeping her away from me and it was only when I caused a scene that they brought her to me," said Anyoso, a vegetable seller and a single mother with five children who makes $5 on a good day.
Anyoso said she didn't have clothes for her child so she wrapped her in a blood-stained blouse. She was released after relatives paid the bill.
One woman says she was detained for nine months and was released only after going on a hunger strike. The Center for Reproductive Rights says other hospitals also detain non-paying patients.
Judy Okal, the acting Africa director for the Center for Reproductive Rights, said her group filed the lawsuit so all Kenyan women, regardless of socio-economic status, are able to receive health care without fear of imprisonment. The hospital, the attorney general, the City Council of Nairobi and two government ministries are named in the suit.
Two mothers who live in a mud-wall and tin-roof slum a short walk from the maternity hospital, which is affiliated with the Nairobi City Council, told The Associated Press that Pumwani wouldn't let them leave after delivering their babies. The bills the mothers couldn't afford were $60 and $160. Guards would beat mothers with sticks who tried to leave without paying, one of the women said.
Now, a New York-based group has filed a lawsuit on the women's behalf in hopes of forcing Pumwani to stop the practice, a practice Omondi is candid about.
"We hold you and squeeze you until we get what we can get. We must be self-sufficient," Omondi said in an interview in his hospital office. "The hospital must get money to pay electricity, to pay water. We must pay our doctors and our workers."
"They stay there until they pay. They must pay," he said of the 350 mothers who give birth each week on average. "If you don't pay the hospital will collapse."
The Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the suit this month in the High Court of Kenya, says detaining women for not paying is illegal. Pumwani is associated with the Nairobi City Council, one reason it might be able to get away with such practices, and the patients are among Nairobi's poorest with hardly anyone to stand up for them.
Maimouna Awuor was an impoverished mother of four when she was to give birth to her fifth in October 2010. Like many who live in Nairobi's slums, Awuor performs odd jobs in the hopes of earning enough money to feed her kids that day. Awuor, who is named in the lawsuit, says she had saved $12 and hoped to go to a lower-cost clinic but was turned away and sent to Pumwani. After giving birth, she couldn't pay the $60 bill, and was held with what she believes was about 60 other women and their infants.
"We were sleeping three to a bed, sometimes four," she said. "They abuse you, they call you names," she said of the hospital staff.
She said saw some women tried to flee but they were beaten by the guards and turned back. While her husband worked at a faraway refugee camp, Awuor's 9-year-old daughter took care of her siblings. A friend helped feed them, she said, while the children stayed in the family's 50-square-foot shack, where rent is $18 a month. She says she was released after 20 days after Nairobi's mayor paid her bill. Politicians in Kenya in general are expected to give out money and get a budget to do so.
A second mother named in the lawsuit, Margaret Anyoso, says she was locked up in Pumwani for six days in 2010 because she could not pay her $160 bill. Her pregnancy was complicated by a punctured bladder and heavy bleeding.
"I did not see my child until the sixth day after the surgery. The hospital staff were keeping her away from me and it was only when I caused a scene that they brought her to me," said Anyoso, a vegetable seller and a single mother with five children who makes $5 on a good day.
Anyoso said she didn't have clothes for her child so she wrapped her in a blood-stained blouse. She was released after relatives paid the bill.
One woman says she was detained for nine months and was released only after going on a hunger strike. The Center for Reproductive Rights says other hospitals also detain non-paying patients.
Judy Okal, the acting Africa director for the Center for Reproductive Rights, said her group filed the lawsuit so all Kenyan women, regardless of socio-economic status, are able to receive health care without fear of imprisonment. The hospital, the attorney general, the City Council of Nairobi and two government ministries are named in the suit.
Another scathing example of a male-dominated Country and of religions that demonize birth control, when it's obviously, desperately, needed. Â That poor woman with 5 children, in poverty, with her husband working at a refugee camp, should not be having more children... as it's harmful to her health, and more likely her kids will die. Â As for the hospital. Â Sheesh. Sounds like the for-profit "non profits" in America. Â The difference is that they let you leave, then destroy your life with collection agencies when your insurance company doesn't pony up.Â
It's only a matter of time until American hospitals start doing this
 @Larry*X*K It already has...there was a story a week or so past about a cancer clinic's denial of treatment for a young boy because the money promised by a scam artist did not show up...the denial eventually led to the boy's death.
@OrcasThunder @Larry*X*K The cancer led to the boy's death not the denial of service from the hospital.
 @Freespeech "for me if I am unlucky to get such a thing then so be it I'll accept my fate when it comes..."
But if everyone had that attitude, there would never be a cure for ANY kind of cancer. To just roll over without a fight is simply not a viable human response.
 @Freespeech "until their is a CURE for cancer my wife and my parents... ANYONE who would have a medical say in for me know... if I get cancer I will not be accepting treatment, for me if I am unlucky to get such a thing then so be it I'll accept my fate when it comes..."
Then I sincerely hope that you - and your wife and parents - never have to make that choice, because you WILL change your tune...
In the 1980's my 2 year old grandson was diagnosed with cancer, and given less than a 4% chance of survival. But his doctors knew of a new experimental treatment never tried on a child, and they went to the board of directors at Group Health to get approval for the expenditure of over $100K the treatment was expected to cost. They got the approval and he went through the treatment - which included drawing some of his bone marrow (a very painful procedure for one so young), screening that to remove all the cancer cells and then culturing it to get it to grow - and then transplanting it back into his body after subjecting him to chemo & radiation to kill all of the cancer cells. Then began the longest 100 days in our lives. He was in isolation, only the immediate family could visit him, and the mother, the grandmother, and the great grandmother took turns sitting with him,
It's been over 26 years, and he is doing well, has some HepC from the transfusions, and is ready to graduate.
We fought his cancer tooth and nail, as a family it brought us closer together, and none of us had any doubts that we would do it all again if needed.
A few years later, my wife was diagnosed with lung cancer - twice. We fought that and beat it - the first time. We fought it, and lost the second time. The point is, we fought it. Even when we knew it wasn't working.
So do not assume that anyone - including you - would simply give up and roll over.
 @Freespeech "There is no way we can make that determination, just because it happened doesn't mean it would have helped or changed the end result..."
I think that the doctors had a pretty good idea of his chances - the cure rate is a lot better now than even a few years ago.
 @OrcasThunder There is no way we can make that determination, just because it happened doesn't mean it would have helped or changed the end result...
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personally I have watched three of my elder friends die from cancer it is ugly and hard on the whole family and friends of the patient.... they had treatment which was painful prolonging of the inevitable and being with them through the entire process to watch that disease/treatment wear down my friends and eventually take them anyway - some of them ... they were gone even before their body physically died - it saddens me even thinking about it right now!...
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until their is a CURE for cancer my wife and my parents... ANYONE who would have a medical say in for me know... if I get cancer I will not be accepting treatment, for me if I am unlucky to get such a thing then so be it I'll accept my fate when it comes...
Â
I do not understand why people are so afraid of dying - it is the end result of life and unfortunate for some of us things just come sooner... we are not going to beat death so everyone in this world just needs to accept the fact that one day we will all die at some point... for me I settle for the when you gotta go you gotta go no point fighting it in my book... I would rather not bankrupt my family trying to buy a few more years full of medical bills medications and specialist visits... that is not living to me!
 @what?  @OrcasThunder Short memory?
The chances were good that he would have lived if there had been no delay in treatment.
"KOMO 4 News shared Thomas' story, and the community responded, raising enough money to get the young man to California. While Thomas showed great improvement, lost time had taken its toll. "I honestly 100 percent believe my son would be here if that time had not been wasted," Tiffany Doty said."
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Mom-Cruel-hoax-cost-cancer-stricken-son-his-life-184526391.html#lf_comment=48785262
So, the denial allowed the cancer to progress to the point it could not be eradicated.
Well contrary to how bad this sounds...these hospitals holding these mothers until their bills are paid keeps the men who take advantage of them and don't use condoms to prevent children being born from doing it again. Honestly how many problems of the third world would be solved if so many of these poor countries stopped having babies that only further add to the hardship of everyone...I am not without compassion but seriously these countries need to stop having families of 8-10 kids when they cannot even feed them! That issue at the very least is preventable if the people or the government would change their views and start controlling their population growth. Look at the demographics of Kenya alone... chances are approximately 50/50 the baby will die very young due to malnutrition because they cannot support themselves! ... honestly it maybe cruel to look at it this way but if the population is so dense and large the area cannot produce sufficient food to keep the population alive...naturally nature takes its own course to 'curb' the excess population...this fact is plain to see for anyone who is looking at the cold hard truth... the world in areas is overpopulated and people can and will die because of it as a part of nature correcting itself!Â
Fix America First. We need to be concerned with solutions for our own country's dysfunctional baby-producers, not waste our time and resources on overseas problems. There are plenty of problems right here in America that need fixing.Â
 @TheTruncheon Why? Because they have no oil?
 @Larry*X*K  @TheTruncheon BINGO!
The attitudes of some of the people on here sadden me. Who's to say that some of those women weren't raped and got pregnant from that? As to birth control access, we have it easy here, not many other places do especially in Africa. I bet some of these same people would be outraged if this was happening here and people were getting tossed in prison for not paying their hospital when they couldn't afford it. S**t happens people, some beyond a person's control and getting locked up for not being able to pay for medical care in any part of the world is WRONG.
 @MoonDragonWitch But isn't that what Obamacare is going to implement? If you cannot afford to pay for insurance, then you get fined and if you don't pay that fine, then you get jailed?
 @Robinsnest  @MoonDragonWitch "If you cannot afford to pay for insurance, then you get fined"
Actually, if you really can't pay, there will be funding to pay for those who cannot afford the coverage.
 @greenecho  @Robinsnest  @MoonDragonWitch "So now I can quit my job and live on the tax payers. So easy."
So not...
If you quit your job you get what you deserve - nothing.
And if you think that "living" on what public assistance pays, think again.
You HAVE to have kids to qualify. And there is not enough to cover the basics when you have kids.
But hey, give it a try, you probably need a hard lesson in life anyway.
 @OrcasThunder  @Robinsnest  @MoonDragonWitch Oh Goodie... So now I can quit my job and live on the tax payers. So easy.
Â
 @Robinsnest  @MoonDragonWitch Oh I knew there couldn't be a discussion without some moron mentioning Obamacare.  Here's a clue for ya...  You, as a taxpayer and as someone with insurance, pay a hell of a lot MORE for all those people that don't have insurance.  Who do you think pays for the uninsured at the ER for sore throats?? Who do you think pays the 500k for an illness that could have been cared for with a relatively inexpensive test had it been caught sooner???  Yep. YOU do.  People are so short-sighted.Â
 @Robinsnest  @MoonDragonWitch no, it just means you get a tax bill and have to actually *gasp* talk to the IRS.
 @SoTweetie  @Robinsnest You're also free to move if you hate it here so much
 @DT My cynicism is based largely on being highly educated and aware, thank you very much. And I am not concerned with attracting you.
 @SoTweetie  Oh goodie. Another low info cynical.  How attractive.Â
 @Larry*X*K  @Robinsnest Yep, just trust the government and pay your taxes. They do us right most of the time, don't they? They solved the fiscal cliff crisis before going on Christmas break, didn't they?HA!Get a job, go to work, pay taxes, get married, have children, walk on the pavement, watch TV, obey the law, save for old age. Now repeat after me:"I AM FREE"Â
 @Robinsnest People who fail paying 6 figure taxes rarely going to prison. Stop the inane propaganda BS
 @RobinsnestÂ
You do realise that if you fall below an income threshold you will not have to pay the penalty? Â And the IRS rarely tosses people in prison - garnishments and seizures of assets are another thing...
 @chandler And what happens if you can't afford to pay that tax bill? I believe then fines are tacked on making that bill higher, then what happens when you have a bill from the IRS that you absolutely can't pay? I do believe that jail is a possibility.
 @MoonDragonWitch I do have some knowledge of this - it's a cultural thing.  And one of the women in the story is married.  Between just the two in the story, 10 children have been  born to poverty.  Of course prison is wrong - but access to and use of birth control would be a good proactive measure.
Americans are always trying to impose our beliefs on other countries. What should happen? We invade their country and force our oh- so- successful welfare system on them? It's free, swipe your EBT!!
Sounds like America - people having baby after baby they cannot afford. Â Does anyone teach the value of birth control or abstinence anymore? Â The prison part is ridiculous though.
Obama should give a donation...
 @Vince You're talking money, right?
 @Getov Mylon Ba-da-BOOM.
 @Jalharad  @Robinsnest  @Getov Mylon There you go, using logic to state your case...these folks don't understand reality - it's just too complicated.
 @Unsalvageable According to my sister those should all be 'basic human rights'. Some people are just liberal to the core.
@Jalharad @Robinsnest @Getov Mylon yet here you sit on the internet typing about how tough you have it. Only in America do the poor have cell phones, cable tv, internet, and free food.
 @Robinsnest  @Getov Mylon Yes that happens, but for ever 1 that abuses the system, there are 10 that don't. I have been on food stamps, I got 538$ a month for food for myself, my wife, and my daughter. I did just as you described above, but I didn't use the cash for cigs, beer, or tats. I used it for things like, toilet paper, diapers, and soap.
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As for being on "welfare" its not "welfare" these days, its TANF. I'll tell you, to qualify for TANF you have to not be making ANY money. Even when you do qualify for TANF there are so many hoops to jump through, and so many doors it closes.Section 8 is what pays for rent, and it is VERY difficult to find a place that will accept section 8, and that is after waiting 2-3 years to even get approved for it. Being on government assistance is not easy, try living on it before you start making comments about people who are on it.Â
 @Getov Mylon But they were being financially responsible by saving their money until they had enough for those tattoos. Who needs money for groceries when you can get food stamps or go to the local food bank? Who needs money for medical when you can get medical assistance through welfare? Who needs money for that trailer rent or power bills when welfare pays for that? If you make your food stamps work properly, you can take a friend grocery shopping and use your EBT while they give you the cash, then use the cash for cigs, beer and tats. Now that is being financially savvy.<sarcasm for those that don't understand>
 @TheTruncheon A certain member of the Mylon family had a few kids while having no insurance. Guess who paid the hospital bill? Plus on-going governmental benefits. And several of her friends had children without benefit of insurance, jobs or a partner with an IQ above 80.
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They THEN wonder why they are poor. Although they do have some nice tattoos.
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Again, Komo shows us half a story with a sad photo, Komo news 4, you just made Joseph Goebbels proud. Sensationalist journalism. Half the story, all the emotion, tonight at 11.
 @Eric Publishing this article makes KOMO equivalent to the Nazis?
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Methinks somebody had too much Hyperbole Cola this morning.
This is why these women need birth control. Anybody who is so poor they cannot pay their doctor bills certainly shouldn't be having children. I can see 1 or 2, but there is an unending circle in Africa, going on for centuries - have babies and damn the torpedos mentality. Women's groups I believe are working on getting birth control to these women but it take awhile to break centuries old rituals. It's 'nice' to see the oppression of the poor and especially poor women is still going on.
 @Elaine2 Look around the US, we have very similar problems with our poor being PEZ Dispensers and don't pay their medical, housing, food etc... bills. Tax payers are the one's to foot these bills and yet these people continue to pop out baby after baby.
 @Robinsnest  Amazing how ugly people can be on the inside.Â
 @Robinsnest  @Elaine2 "Tax payers are the one's to foot these bills and yet these people continue to pop out baby after baby."
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Newsflash, Robinsnest: Poor people pay taxes too -- in many cases, at a higher rate than rich people do. But please feel free to keep blaming all of society's ills on the poor.
Here's the other extreme of the welfare baby problem. We take it to the other extreme in the US and force hard working people to pay for babies the mothers can't afford because they won't take advantage of the free birth control we also pay for. Neither extreme is workable or fair. In America, there is no reason why a woman who can't afford to pay for their child to have one. Get rid of welfare.Â
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In Nairobi....there are probably a lot of reasons why a woman who can't afford to have a child will have one.....the hospitals have the right to be paid but this is ridiculous. Especially guards beating people with sticks.....there has to be a better solution.
 @dg54321 Yes! I wish those damn RED STATES would get their acts together! And stop forcing the Blue States to pay for their enormous bill as the biggest users of welfare, food stamps, and subsidized medical care!!  And I wish that we'd stop having to donate our taxes to them, while they continue to rank the highest in teen pregnancy, drop-outs, and uninsured!  Damn those Red States!!  (sorry, you guys are all so quick to blame liberal this.. liberal that.. but the reality is that it's poor white people in the Red States that are using more than what they pay into federal taxes, and places like California are "donor states" for them.) Â
@DT@dg54321
But I thought you didn't have a problem with that?
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For those feeling so charitable, your more than welcome to pick up the tab yourselves. I thought so.
 @dg54321 "the free birth control we also pay for."
What "free birth control" do tax payers pay for?
As far as I can find is provided by orgs like Planned Parenthood...a private group that many want to get rid of because they also offer abortions.
 @OrcasThunder Basic health....and now Obamacare which will provide free birth control and health exams for women....but not free health exams for men. Not biased at all. Given the choice to pay for welfare babies or free birth control, I'd choose birth control every day of the week. I'd prefer to pay for none of it, but in this free ride America we have nowadays, I guess we have to start making choices of which option is less socialist rather than saying no socialism at all, as it should be.
 @OrcasThunder  @dg54321 A cursory google search will give you several instances of schools providing "free" birth control.
 @unobtanium  @SoTweetie Tubal ligation. Problem solved.
 @unobtanium  @SoTweetie Rubbers.. Much much cheaper.
 @SoTweetieÂ
so, if you don't want a kid you cut your man off?
Â
how's that working out for you?
 @Getov Mylon  @Mandy Patterson  @dg54321 "When it's a women's RIGHT TO CHOOSE, birth becomes a choice."
You miss the point. In many cases - such as rape or a husband expecting his "rights" - the woman has little "choice".
If having a baby isn't practical, abstinence is key. @unobtanium
 @SoTweetieÂ
note the word "effective", ie. practical and effective.
Â
try again.
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 @unobtanium Abstinence
@unobtanium @SoTweetie That's simple, Abstinence
 @SoTweetie Â
name me a 100% effective form of birth control...
 @unobtanium Accidentally falling onto a penis?Â
 @SoTweetieÂ
wow, I didn't realize it was that easy! Â I don't have to worry about accidents or rape or other unforeseeables... and if something does happen I can just pray my way out of it right?
 @unobtanium Personal accountability.
 @Mandy Patterson   You must work in marketing  with that pay to save reasoning!
 @Getov Mylon wrong - we do and must as a society choose.  Common sense dictates we help those who do not wish to procreate and save ourselves the cost, both financial and social, of unwanted children.
 @unobtanium A false choice is no choice.
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And under the ACA decision by the Supreme Court, we can simply tax those who fail to be responsible breeders.
 @Getov MylonÂ
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Neither is not a choice here - people are going to have sex. Â So, which is it? Fund family planning or orphanages?
 @Mandy Patterson  @OrcasThunder  @dg54321 "So which is it Getov? You pay for babies or birth control?"
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I say neither. If you can't afford a $1 or so for a condom, maybe you should just hold off on that sex thing. When it's a women's RIGHT TO CHOOSE, birth becomes a choice. The choice is YOUR (and baby daddy's) responsibility to figure out how to pay for it...
 @Mandy Patterson One problem with your theory on savings. People have to USE said birth control for it to be even remotely effective or cost less.
 @Getov Mylon  @OrcasThunder  @dg54321 So which is it Getov? You pay for babies or birth control? If you're going to complain about paying for babies, I would think you would have no problem paying for birth control which is a huge savings. We're totally getting away from the topic at hand. Last time I checked Kenya wasn't even on the same continent as America, but yes, continue on complaining about American 'welfare babies' and 'free' birth control.