Teen mothers detained at hospital in SHA chaos almost miss KCSE
Agnes Wangui resigned herself to the fact that her daughter would not sit for her Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations that entered its second week on Monday.
Her daughter is among three teenagers who were detained for close to a month at Nyahururu Hospital in Laikipia County due to non-payment of hospital bills. The parents of the girls narrated their plight after replacement of the Linda Mama program by the Social Health Authority (SHA) whose implementation commenced on October 1, 2024 but has been chaotic.
As fate would have it, Agnes’s daughter was admitted to the maternity ward on October 4, 2024, just three days after termination of Linda Mama.
The young mother had a normal delivery and would have probably remained at the hospital for about two days. However, with a hospital bill of Sh15,000, which the family was unable to raise, she was detained at the hospital for non-payment of the bill.
It later accumulated to Sh50,000 for the upkeep of the new-born and Sh20,000 for the admission fee of the teen mother.
“I had given up since I could not even afford to visit her at the hospital. I am a casual labourer so I opted to send her some money raised from my casual jobs which was about Sh200 to Sh300 in a week since I have other children. It was the most painful and agonising moment of my life, abandoning my daughter and granddaughter at the hospital,” said Agnes who hails from Wanjiku Village in Marmanet. A visit to the hospital would cost her Sh700 in fare.
“I knew the weekly amount I was sending her was not even enough for the diapers, but that was the best I could do. I kept praying to God to provide a solution to us,” explained Agnes.
The three parents of the teenage girls are SHA subscribers but their cards did not assist their daughters. Laikipia governor Joshua Irungu intervened and ordered release of the trio from the hospital.
“We were told that the new policy is that each mother must have her cards, regardless of age since the Linda Mama which covered all mothers irrespective of age was no longer working. Our daughters couldn’t enrol under the new health scheme since they are underage and do not have national identity cards,” explained Judy Koech from Piyambei Village, Muchungui Ward, Baringo South Sub-county in Baringo County.
Her daughter, aged 17 years was admitted to the maternity ward where she stayed for 21 days before her release.
“My daughter was to be discharged from the hospital on October 22, 2024 when the bill was about Sh10,000 for delivery and Sh8,000 for bed charges. We were unable to pay the bill and my SHA card could not support her. The hospital bill had accumulated to Sh50,570 by Sunday, November 3, 2024, when Governor Irungu intervened. I am very happy holding my granddaughter as her mother sits her exams,” said Judy.
She is optimistic that her daughter will perform well in her examinations despite the challenges.
“I had lost hope that my daughter would sit her examinations. The government needs to urgently streamline the health scheme, many Kenyans especially young mothers are suffering, and we still do not understand why teen mothers cannot benefit from their parents’ SHA cards. We must have many young mothers suffering across the county. The Linda Mama program should not have been abolished before SHA was effectively working. What does the government expect teen mothers to do when they can’t enrol for the health scheme without the identity cards?” posed Judy.
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