IHK releases patient detained over bill, fails to convince him to withdraw court case

Kampala.

The family of a patient who was detained by International Hospital Kampala (IHK) for failure to clear his medical bill has been released but he has insisted he will not withdraw the case he filed against the hospital for unlawful holding.

Mr Patrick Obiga, who had allegedly been detained by the hospital for failure to pay Shs19.5m out of a Shs39m bill, was discharged on Friday evening by the hospital authorities following the intervention of Terego West MP Moses Angundru.

Ms Rose Obiga, the patient’s sister, said the hospital did not consult the family before the decision to discharge him was made.
Ms Obiga says she was informed about Patrick’s release by her mother who was then attending to him. She consequently mobilised money for his transportation to the village.

“I had earlier contacted him (MP Angundru ) for help but he shunned me and now that the matter is in court and the media, he extends his help,” Ms Obiga said. She says she believes MP Angundru’s intention to help Patrick was to reap political gain from the matter.

“We as a family don’t have the money to pay the bills though we are committed to paying it in its entirety. I don’t refuse any contributions from anyone but I request that the money be deposited on my account or through our lawyers until the law suit is handled,” she said.

Mr Obiga had been detained at IHK hospital for one and a half weeks over failure to pay the Shs19.5m balance on the medical bills.
Ms Obiga said her brother’s bill had some items that ought to be removed like the food expenses because he did not receive all the meals as billed and the gloves were provided by her not the hospital as indicated.

Ms Obiga said she was informed that Mr Eric Alema, a relative, had been called by the IHK management requesting that the issue be handled out of court. She denied knowledge about that arrangement and insisted on proceeding with the court case.

Mr Angundru denied claims that he had refused to help them when they contacted him initially. He told Sunday Monitor that the first time Rose contacted him and Arua District Woman MP Maureen Osoru, they tried to seek help from government but their efforts were futile as they could not access the First Lady. He said there are many people seeking help from government and all of them cannot be assisted.

He adds that he was busy when Rose contacted him but didn’t refuse to help Patrick who is his village-mate. “I had engagements in Arua, then Kampala and back to Arua. I stepped in to help because Patrick got brain damage and failure to pay his medical bills would prompt him to hurt himself.”