Uncivilized responses to medical debt
Borneo Bulletin
April 14, 2004
Woman unable to pay medical bill locked up in hospital
NAIROBI (dpa) - A mother of seven has been kept locked up in a Kenyan hospital for a year because she cannot pay her medical bill, local media reported Tuesday.
The woman was admitted to a hospital in the town of Meru last April after adomestic quarrel, and shortly after gave birth to twins. As she was not able to pay the bill of 6,000 Kenyan Shillings (US$77), the hospital kept her locked up, wrote the East African Standard newspaper. A year in hospital confinement has escalated the bill to 103,000 Kenyan Shillings (US$1,300 USD), but the hospital proprietor insists the woman will not be released until the bill is cleared.
It is common in Kenya for hospitals to keep patients because they cannot pay their bills.
The government has promised to introduce a social health insurance system under which the poorest people would get free medical care, but it is unclear how the government plans to finance the scheme.
http://www.brunei-online.com/bb/wed/apr14w39.htm
Comment: Our approach to medical debt is to force many individuals intopersonal bankruptcy. Considering our great national wealth, maybe we should be almost as ashamed as should this hospital proprietor.