Sakaja orders release of all patients detained for non-payment

Sakaja, who took to social media on Monday, stated that the patients needed to be reunited with their families during the Christmas holidays and that his administration would pay their outstanding bills.

He contended that it was even more expensive for most hospitals to cater to patients' needs and expenses while they were in the hospital, and thus there was no need for them to remain confined.

  “I’ve directed that all persons detained at our county hospitals because of non-payment be released to go home to be with their families this Christmas,” Sakaja wrote on Twitter.

“We will pay. In many cases, it is even more expensive to cater for them in terms of food etc and patients who need space miss it.”

The county boss's announcement comes two months after his impromptu visit to Mama Lucy hospital in Embakasi, where he revealed the sorry state of hospital services and congestion.

"Mothers should not be sharing beds, patients not being attended to on time, drugs not being available. I apologise on behalf of the previous administration as well as the NMS for the state of things. We will take better care of you. I will not rest until we achieve this," the governor assured,” said the governor in September.

In the recent past, a Citizen TV feature titled 'Sickness in Health' revealed cases of patients being detained in hospitals for more than a year due to unpaid bills.