Jaro Hospital is in trouble for allegedly detaining Robert Ssentongo, a 15-year-old boy due to failure of his family to clear a medical bill of Shillings 4.8 million. The teenager’s family has dragged Jaro Hospital, Kyaliwajjala to the High Court Civil Division.
Sentogo’s father, Raymond Mugerwa, a resident of Kikabya village, Bunyiri parish, Kyampisi sub county in Mukono district says that on July 23rd, 2022, his son was involved in a motor accident while on a boda boda around GP Petrol station along Namugongo road. He was run over by a speeding car and rushed to Jaro hospital for treatment.
According to Mugerwa, he was informed of the accident and rushed to the health facility to check on his son. He explains that upon reaching the facility, he requested that his son be referred to a more affordable public facility and the health workers at the hospital informed him that his son was in a critical condition and could not make it since he needed an emergency operation to stop internal bleeding.
“My son walked himself to the theatre and the operation was successfully conducted on the 23rd of July 2022…In fear of huge medical bills, on 25th July 2022, my wife and I pleaded for a referral to a public facility but our request was turned down,” reads part of Sentongo’s affidavit.
He explains that on August 4th, 2022, the hospital gave them an invoice of Shillings 4,423,000 but unfortunately, the hospital rejected partial payment. He says that a Good Samaritan offered to pay Shillings 1.5 million and draw a payment plan with the hospital for later payment but they declined the offer and demanded full settlement.
Mugerwa narrates that since August 24th, 2022, the hospital has detained his son without food and basic needs of life on account of their inability to pay Shillings 4.8 million. He adds that his son was due for discharge from the hospital when they locked him up and secluded him in a room without access to medical care and supervision of any medical personnel.
He says the hospital has denied him and his wife access to their son despite his efforts to secure his release on the condition that he would make a partial payment and stake his residence as collateral. Now in a joint suit filed together with the Center for Health, Human Rights and Development against the hospital and its Director Dr. James Odongo, Sentongo argues that the decision by the hospital to detain him is a violation of his right to health and freedom of liberty. The hospital is sued together with its director
Through their lawyers at the Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD) Legal Aid Clinic, Springs Advocates, and Tangle Advocates, the applicants want the court to order Ssentongo’s immediate release. They also want the hospital to pay him costs for their actions. They have also applied for an interim injunction seeking orders to release the boy who the family says should be at home preparing to return to school on September 4th, 2022.
On August 28th, 2022, CEHURD wrote to the hospital management about the matter saying the hospital was denying the boy access to his family, further medical care, food, and freedom of movement to the detriment of his mental health and physical wellbeing.
Dr. Odongo is said to have denied detaining the boy but noted that it was only fair that the family meets its obligation to clear the bill. The court is yet to summon the hospital to file its defense before the matter is scheduled for a hearing. Jaro is not the first hospital accused of detaining a patient for failure to pay hospital bills.
Such cases were prevalent during the peak of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021. In 2020, Nsambya Hospital was accused of detaining a mother for three months over failure to pay Shillings 2.2 million. While the hospitals often argue that they should be paid, activists insist that the act of detaining a person for failure to pay hospital bills violates their rights.
