Patients at Ruiru Level 4 Hospital in Kiambu County have exposed troubling experiences that suggest informal payment demands are creeping into routine emergency care at the public facility. Patients at Ruiru Level 4 Hospital in Kiambu County report that emergency treatment for injuries is increasingly contingent on direct payments to doctors, leaving some unable to access care while official billing systems are bypassed.
Reports from those treated after accidents describe being steered away from official hospital billing and towards direct mobile money transfers to medical staff for procedures that normally attract standard fees.
What unsettles many is the sense that timely treatment hinges less on medical need and more on the ability to produce instant payments, leaving those without cash stranded.
Below is what one patient shared under the request of anonymity, describing a distressing encounter in which treatment for injuries moved forward only after personal mobile money payments were made. "Hi Nyakundi. Don't reveal my name but let me expose Ruiru Level 4 Hospital. I recently encountered an accident via a motorbike and was taken there, whereby I was asked to pay a consultation fee and buy a book as a card, though I was given a receipt. Now let me tell you, I had an X-ray on my left foot, whereby I needed to be stitched and plastered. I was asked to pay Ksh 1,500 for the services, and to my surprise, the doctor said I should not pay at the reception but directly to his M-Pesa. That is the doctor who stitched me. Upon paying, I thought that was to cover both stitches and plaster but to my surprise, I had to pay the orthopedic doctor also some Ksh 1,500 for his services. My question is, if this is a legal fee, why then not pay at the reception and be given receipts? I observed an abnormal practice where even other people could be ignored for lacking the Ksh 1,500 bribe. You could hear the doctor tell patients, "Uko na ngapi? Fikisha 1k ama ujitibu." Hustlers who could not afford Ksh 3,000 at once were left in pain in the sickbay. Expose, expose this mediocrity behavior."