By Mercy Musangi
For more than five months, the family of Patrick Kasyoki Gosham and wife Mary Mutindi( Pictured below)has been unable to bury their daughter.
Dorcas Ndunge died at AIC Kijabe Hospital on March 21, 2026, after a prolonged illness that began with a reported dog bite and a treatment journey that took her through several hospitals.
Her body remains detained in the hospital mortuary.
The reason: an outstanding hospital bill of more than Sh 6 million as per attached bill.
The family’s ordeal exposes a disturbing question about what happens when a medical emergency turns into a financial catastrophe — and what protections exist for families who cannot settle a hospital bill after losing their loved one.
According to Dorcas’ mother, Mary Mutindi Gashon (Patrick), the girl’s treatment began at Athi River Level 4 Hospital, where she received a series of injections.
But her condition deteriorated as the injections continued.
The family sought treatment at several other hospitals before Dorcas was eventually referred to AIC Kijabe Hospital, where she was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit.
She remained in ICU for about seven months.
By March, the family says her condition had improved sufficiently for her to be moved to the general ward. She died about a week later, on March 21.
The family says it did everything possible to save her.
Savings were exhausted.
Property was sold.
Friends and relatives were approached for loans and contributions.
By the time Dorcas died, the medical bill had risen to more than Sh7 million.
The family and well-wishers managed to raise Sh500,000.
The Social Health Authority, SHA, also paid Sh900,000, according to the family.
Yet the body remains in the mortuary.
The family says the hospital has demanded payment of the outstanding balance before releasing Dorcas for burial.
And the bill has continued to rise as the body remains in the mortuary.
It is a grim cycle: a family loses its daughter, struggles to pay an enormous medical bill, and then incurs additional costs while the body remains in hospital custody.
The case raises uncomfortable questions beyond the family’s financial predicament.
How did a reported dog bite evolve into a medical journey that eventually consumed more than Sh7 million?
Was the initial diagnosis correct?
What injections were administered at Athi River Level 4 Hospital?
Why did Dorcas’ condition continue deteriorating?
Why did she have to move through several hospitals before reaching Kijabe?
Could an earlier diagnosis or intervention have changed the outcome?
These are questions that cannot responsibly be answered by the family alone.
There is no basis at this stage to accuse any hospital of negligence.
But the chronology warrants independent scrutiny, particularly the period between the initial treatment at Athi River Level 4 Hospital and the eventual referral to Kijabe.
The medical records from the different facilities should provide the answers.
They should show what symptoms Dorcas presented with, what diagnosis was made, what medication and injections she received, what tests were conducted, when her condition deteriorated and why referrals were made.
There is another question that is perhaps even more immediate.
Should a dead patient’s body remain in a hospital mortuary because a family cannot pay the bill?
Dorcas is no longer receiving treatment.
The family is no longer trying to save her life.
They are simply trying to take their daughter home and bury her.
Yet every additional day the body remains in the mortuary may add to the family’s financial burden.
The case also raises questions about the adequacy of health insurance protection.
SHA has already paid Sh900,000, while the family has paid another Sh500,000, according to the mother.
Despite this combined Sh1.4 million payment, the family says it remains saddled with a balance exceeding Sh5 million.
For the Gashon family, the tragedy is therefore twofold.
They lost their daughter.
They have also been left facing a bill they cannot possibly afford, while being unable to give her a final resting place.
Dorcas’ story deserves more than a fundraising appeal.
It deserves answers — from the hospitals involved, from SHA and from the health authorities.
Above all, it raises a question that Kenya’s health system must confront: when a patient dies after a long and expensive treatment journey, where does the family’s financial responsibility end — and where does the dignity of the dead begin?
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