Life for Alice Wanjiru is turning into an endless nightmare.
As the doctors' strike entered its 89th day, Alice stared at a bill of Sh4.5 million which she must pay for her husband's body to be released by a hospital.
The Sh200 to Sh300 she earns on a good day, from her charcoal selling business in Dagoretti, Nairobi, means there is no way to quickly raise the amount.
She will need 37 years to do so but she also has three children to take care of.
Umash Funeral Home is charging Sh2,000 every day for the preservation of the body.
Alice's nightmare began when Austin Ndung'u, her husband of 12 years, fell ill in December. The health workers' strike began on the fifth day of that month.
Her first move was to rush Ndung'u to Kenyatta National Hospital which they could afford, given they had NHIF cards. But on reaching Kenya's biggest referral hospital, they found no doctor working.
She and her brother-in-law Vincent Oloo settled for Kikuyu mission hospital on December 16 after much scouting.
But they were informed that the church-run facility was not equipped to treat her husband's lung infection.
"It was not easy. I had to take him to a private hospital regardless of our financial situation. He was my husband...what else was I to do?" she posed.
Alice said a friend recommended on December 21 that they take Ndung'u to Karen Hospital, but the bill there was much higher than what they could afford.
"We drove all the way to the hospital but when we arrived we were told to pay Sh300,000 for my husband to be treated. This brought tears to my eyes. This was just too much," she said.
They then went to Nairobi South Hospital.
Austin Ndung'u, whose body is still lying at Umash Funeral Home as his wife Alice Wanjiru has not cleared a Sh4.5 million hospital bill. /COURTESY
"At least there the amount was Sh250,000. I still did not have that kind of money but my husband was not doing so well after all the movement," she said.
Alice said they were asked to pay a Sh100,000 deposit that day and the rest of the money the following day.
"I withdrew all the money that was in my husband's account. He had Sh80,000. This, added to the savings I had, was enough for the deposit," she said.
To cover the balance, Alice and her family members asked for loans from friends and held a fundraising that raised Sh500,000.
"I had remained with a little money after paying the deposit. But as the days went by the bill became higher and higher," she said.
"I had already asked for money from everybody I knew. Shortly afterwards, my husband went into a coma. He died on January 27."
Alice said the hospital took Ndung'u's body to Umash Funeral Home under the custody of Nairobi South Hospital. But she was asked to clear a Sh4.5 million for the body to be released. NHIF paid Sh80,000 of the bill.
"His body is still in the mortuary and I have no idea how I will make the payment. I am requesting any Kenyan willing to help to please come to my aid," she said.
Donations can be sent to Alice by M-Pesa, pay bill number 654013, or directly to mobile number 0710 733345.
The healthcare system has long been overburdened and underfunded, but it has now virtually stopped functioning following the health workers' strike.
At least 20 people were reported to have died on the first three days of the strike.
Amid efforts to end the crisis, families have either turned to private facilities or taken their sick back home.
In some counties, health workers including clinicians, nutritionists and mortuary attendants have also downed their tools.
Read: Why Kenya has been unable to end a two-month doctors’ strike
Doctors, who said Kenya was in for the longest strike ever, have maintained that they will not back down until demands detailed in their 2013 CBA signed with the government are met.
Mediators in the dispute on Thursday went back to court to seek permission to consult Cardinal John Njue and Anglican Archbishop Jackson oleSapit on ending the stalemate.
For the sake of the millions of Kenyans struggling to find help in the doctors' absence, Alice hopes that the government and health workers will soon reach a deal.
More on this: Mediators in doctors' strike seek divine intervention to end stalemate
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