After firing the CEO of Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital, the Mombasa County Government is once again under sharp scrutiny following a disturbing case involving the body of a five-day-old girl detained at the facility for over a month due to an unpaid hospital bill of KSh60,000.
The incident comes barely a day after Governor Abdulswamad Nassir assured residents that children under five would access free medical services in the county.
Yet even as that promise echoed across public forums, a grieving family had been reportedly unable to secure the release of their child’s body, raising serious questions about policy implementation, accountability, and the gap between public pronouncements and reality on the ground.
Stakeholders are now demanding answers, warning that this may not be an isolated case. They argue that many similar incidents could be buried in silence, with vulnerable families suffering quietly due to systemic failures within the county’s health department. Critics say the sacking of the hospital’s CEO was merely cosmetic and did not address deep-rooted structural and administrative lapses that continue to cripple service delivery.
The burial was eventually facilitated by the Elkana Jacobs Foundation, which stepped in to clear the outstanding bill and ensure the minor received a dignified send-off at Kisimani in Ziwa la Ng’ombe Ward, Nyali Constituency.
The father of the deceased, Karisa Kitsao, expressed gratitude to the foundation for restoring dignity to his family during their darkest hour — a role many now argue should never have fallen to private well-wishers in the first place.
Residents are now calling for a comprehensive and independent investigation into alleged systemic shortcomings at Coast General, insisting that accountability must go beyond leadership changes. They are demanding transparency in billing practices, enforcement of the promised free healthcare program for young children, and urgent reforms to prevent what they term as “institutional injustice” against grieving families.
As pressure mounts, the county administration faces a defining test: whether it will confront the hard truths within its health system — or allow yet another tragedy to fade without meaningful reform.
