Gov’t to settle all medical, funeral expenses for students in Naivasha accident

The government now says it will take care of all funeral expenses for five students from Friends School Mbihi who were killed in an accident on the Nakuru – Nairobi road on Tuesday afternoon.

Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu, in a statement to newsrooms on Wednesday, said his ministry would also endeavour to cater for medical expenses of the 7 students who were injured in the crash.

“The Ministry condoles with the families of the deceased and affirms its support to the families whose children survived,” CS Machogu said in the statement.

“The Ministry will ensure that the best free medical treatment is offered to the hospitalised students under the Edu Afya health insurance scheme for secondary school learners. The insurance cover will also cater for funeral expenses for all the deceased students.”

The CS stated that the students were – on the fateful day - picked up by the matatu from their school in Vihiga County, and were headed home in Nairobi for the April holidays.

However, upon reaching Naivasha, the driver lost control of the matatu after colliding with an oncoming lorry, with Machogu saying that a probe into the accident is still underway.

The 7 injured students were transferred to the Naivasha sub-county hospital where, according to the Education CS, three of them were found to be in need of critical medical care and were rushed to the Intensive Care Unit of the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).

“In Naivasha, one learner was picked up by her parents from the Naivasha Sub-County hospital while three others were retained for further doctors’ overnight observation,” said Machogu.

“Two of the students have since been given a clean bill of health and were due for discharge today, leaving only one of them still under observation.”

He further added: “A post-mortem exercise on all the bodies have been completed and parents are making arrangements to move the bodies to preferred morgues.”