The Kidney Scam Story At Mediheal Group Of Hospitals

With abdominal pains, Joseph Okoth (not his real names for confidentiality) walked into Mediheal Nakuru Branch for tests and hopefully treatment. Unknown to him, he was walking straight into a disaster.

Seen by a Dr. Aemen Asher and Dr. Vinayak Ingalagi both of whom couldn’t speak straight Swahili as they’re Asian medical imports, Joseph walked into his nightmare.

Sonography results seen by Kenya Insights and verified by complying medical experts shows that Okoth was in good health, contrary and to his fears, all his organs were in perfect health. However, his problems would start at this point.

“Expose the rot in Mediheal Hospital Nakuru.
Recently I was lured in to a misdiagnosis of kidney failure and booked for dialysis which I insisted to be discharged agains medical advice. Which later in checking with two other hospitals in Nakuru all my internal organs were working properly.” Joseph opens up to the Kenya Insights writer in an email.

Joseph is a senior lecturer at a public university. He tells me he’s never fell ill previously so his medical cover has remained untouched and here’s where the scandal jumps in.

Following successful tests at Mediheal that turned out negative on his organs having any defaults, the doctors came up with a rather unprofessional and clearly dubious recommendation.

Joseph was to be put on dialysis. This was done verbally and not put on record. In what seems like a norm at the hospital, Joseph writes, “Dr. Aemen went personally to their nhif desk to check in the system before they begun treatment.” On his NHIF account that has not been utilized, he had Sh1M and it’s here where he suspects the monkey business started playing.

He claims he was put through unnecessary tests. “I only had my lab results, I refused to go through dialysis. The Indian doctors are cunning because they recommend dialysis and CT scan verbally. That’s what I found unprocedural and insisted to be discharged.” He writes partly.

He continues, “The immediate recommendation from the doctor was to check my insurance cover. Interestingly I had never used it coz I’ve never fell ill. So once he noticed I have one million NHIF insurance cover he immediately recommended admission. Which I complied, even after the scan showed no faulty organ. It was after he touched my belly and said I required urgent appendix surgery ‘from how he felt my tummy’ , once in the private wing admitted he comes an hour later with very bad news that the lab results showed my kidneys are seriously damaged and I require urgent CT scan and dialysis. This was verbal. So I asked him to walk out and give us , my brothers and my wife to consult. mark you, all these news are broken before all of us. No patient privacy. I felt like am being conned. You know how the city street conmen in Nairobi take you mbio mbio with threats so that you comply. Immediately I told my people to discharge me so that we can seek a different opinion.”

At this point I’d like to make it clear that the official medical results of mediheal which we’ve since seen, don’t show that Joseph’s organs had defaults and all that he was told by the doctor was all but verbal which is suspect.

It even goes further to raise more eyebrows according to the statement by Joseph, “Vinayak was the one in the consulting room, another Indian guy in the lab did the tests and Vinayak sent me to Aemen whom the lab tech gave results. Aemen recommended admission after checking my insurance cover, then once in the hospital bed Aemen and Vinayak comes says my kidneys are bad I needed to be dialysed and scanned.”

Its starting to sound like the Nairobi women’s hospital saga and many other private hospitals who prey on health insurance covers to milk unsuspecting and vulnerable clients. We can’t confirm if this incident is isolated to NHIF only but you can most likely tell.

Joseph after seeking alternatives and refusing to undergo the verbally prescribed dialysis, had this to say, “I went to Nakuru War Memorial Hospital Nakuru where they confirmed my organs are working perfectly. However the lab results indicated I needed some antibiotics. I was only expecting to be managed with the pain on my appendix when I went to Mediheal.” He was eventually found with high chemical concentration that was to be cleaned at the War memorial to lower toxicity in the blood, this was from Mediheal medication.

However, there’s the issue of costs, “The difference in charges is glaring. 22 hours I paid Sh70,000 to Mediheal Hospital Nakuru but paid Sh89,000 at War Memorial Hospital Nakuru in Five Days. A clear indication that Mediheal full of foreign quack doctors.” Kenya Insights can confirm these claims based on the medical reports/receipts that were availed to us.

He further makes claims, “Africans are just nurses receptionist, cleaners, sonographer. The rest specialized exercises like consultant doctors and lab tech are Indians. Even when they consult Infront of a patient they speak in their mother tongue.”

Joseph had reached out to Kenya Insights following an article that linked the Mediheal VP Prem Kumar to a kidney and organ trafficking in India years back. These claims have since been denied by the CEO Swarup Mishra saying they’re based on political witch-hunt and that Mediheal is not in anyway involved in body organs trafficking.

Its also prudent for patients to be aware of their rights: The first edition of the Kenya National Patients’ Rights Charter 2013 published in October 2013 clearly highlights the following; One Highlights clearly the 14 Patients’ Rights which include;

1.) Rights to access health care; (2.) Rights to receive emergency treatment in any health facility (3.) Rights to be informed of all the provisions of one’s Medical Scheme/Health Insurance Policy (4.) Right to choose a health care provider (5.) Right to the highest attainable quality of Health care products and services (6.) Right to refuse treatment (7.) Right to confidentiality (8.) Right to informed consent to treatment (9.) Right to information (10.) Right to be treated with respect and dignity (11.) Right to a second medical opinion (12.) Right to complain (13.) Right to insurance coverage without discrimination on the basis of age, pregnancy, disability, illness including mental disorders (14.) Righ to donate his or her organs and/or any other arrangements/wishes upon demise.

From the mentioned rights as a patient, Joseph noticed several of his rights as a patient were being violated.

In our continuing series of Mediheal, we focus on the hidden hand and untold story of Mishra on medical tourism and just how qualified are his doctors and the ethnicity context including his business with the government and his questionable bills in parliament.

If you have any comment, additions, intel, or anything that matters on this subject, write to me ([email protected]).