GRANDEE LOOKS AT EVICTION IN THE FACE AFTER MEDICAL BILL

A 68-year-old man risks losing his family land in Kakamega county to a hospital due to unpaid hospital bills incurred by his grandson.
The deadline that the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital issued to Absalom Sangale to clear a bill of Sh253,700 which was incurred after his now six-year-old grandson was treated at the facility for several months has elapsed.
The elderly man has appealed to the hospital and wellwishers to come to his rescue saying he risked losing  his 2.5 acres land on which he lives with his nine children and 42 grandchildren at Buteheli village in Shinyalu constituency, Kakamega county.
He said his 22-year-old son who is the father of the grandson still depended on him as he was unemployed and that is why he deposited his land title deed with the hospital to secure release of the grandson who had been detained at the hospital.
The grandson identified as Alvine Sangale was rushed to the hospital in Uasin Gishu county last year after he was badly burnt in boiling porridge at Shiswa Primary School where he was attending nursery. He said the pupil fell into the porridge after he was accidentally pushed by another child while they were being served. This left him with over 90 degree burns that are still healing.
The medical facility then detained the boy over unpaid bill after Sangale could not be able to settle the bill. “However, we managed to raise Sh53,700 which we paid in the first installment and another Sh42,000 leaving us with a balance of Sh253,267. We have since been trying to raise the arrears in vain. The hospital had given us two months to pay and we are afraid that they will come knocking any time if we do not pay up,” he said.
He said the title deed was still with the hospital and that he was at risk of losing his land as he is a peasant farmer with no income.
He said the boy is yet to fully recover as he was unable to take him back to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital as instructed by the doctors for check-ups due to lack of money.
When Weekly Citizen visited the boy at Shiswa Primary School where he has now rejoined in Standard One, he was still suffering from pain as the scars had not yet healed fully.
“I am appealing to the government and well-wishers to come to my aid and help me out. I and my big family have nowhere else to go if we are evicted from this land,” Sangale pleaded.