A teacher from Baringo Central is stuck in India, fighting for her life and waiting for help that has yet to come.
The woman, who was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, urgently needs a bone marrow transplant estimated at about Ksh5 million. But three months later, she is still stranded abroad as the Social Health Authority (SHA) struggles to process overseas medical cover.
Her husband says they travelled to India hoping the new SHA system would ease their burden after moving from a teachers’ medical scheme run by a local insurer. Instead, they have exhausted all the money they had.
“We thought things would get better,” he said. “But now we are just waiting.”
So far, the family says they have spent close to Ksh5 million on chemotherapy, travel costs and medical tests as doctors prepare her for the transplant.
The delay has been linked to SHA’s ongoing accreditation of foreign hospitals. Without formal contracts in place, many hospitals in India and Turkey are reportedly demanding upfront payments from Kenyan patients because of unpaid claims from previous arrangements.
Efforts to get a direct response from SHA officials were unsuccessful. However, SHA Chief Executive Officer Dr Mercy Mwangangi recently said the onboarding of foreign hospitals is still underway.
She noted that the process of reviewing submissions and extending contracts should be completed by the end of February.
Under SHA’s overseas cover, procedures such as liver transplants, bone marrow transplants, paediatric kidney transplants and other major surgeries are listed as eligible. Advanced cancer treatment and complex heart operations are also covered.
However, the cover currently has a payout cap of Ksh500,000 far below what many specialised procedures abroad cost. In the Baringo teacher’s case, the transplant alone is estimated at ten times that amount.
Family friends are now appealing to the government to speed up the process and review the payout limit, saying time is not on her side.
The case comes at a time when SHA is facing major challenges. The authority is said to be grappling with a funding deficit of about Ksh116 billion and low compliance rates, with only around 18 per cent of Kenyans actively contributing.
