"Sadly, Patrick’s story is not an anomaly. Last year, Caroline Tito was receiving treatment at Mater Hospital, a private hospital in Nairobi, when she passed away. As a result, her two sons, in college at the time, were orphaned. Upon her death, the hospital presented the sons a medical bill of Ksh. 3,315,784 (around $25,000), which they could not afford. As a result, the hospital detained their mother’s body for nearly two months, with the medical bill further accumulating every day. Eventually the High Court stepped in and ordered the release of the body.A report from Oxfam also found another private hospital, Nairobi Women’s Hospital, “regularly imprisoned patients until their bills were paid. One newborn baby was reportedly held for at least three months, and a schoolboy for eleven months. Bodies of those who have died have been held for up to two years.” The Nairobi Women’s Hospital receives funding from the World Bank through its funding arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC).“From our perspective, the profit drive is taking priority over patient well-being,” Linda Oduor-Noah, health policy lead at Oxfam International, told Jacobin. “The research we and others have produced shows IFC client hospitals, particularly those funded via financial intermediaries, involved in a range of egregious practices and human rights violations, including patient detentions, overcharging or price rigging, unnecessary treatments, labor concerns, denial of emergency care, fraud and failures of corporate governance, among other concerns.”"https://jacobin.com/2026/04/africa-imf-austerity-health-kenya/#Africa #HealthCare #Privatization
