'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
The director of the Pumwani Maternity Hospital, located in a hardscrabble neighborhood of downtown Nairobi, freely acknowledges what he's accused of: detaining mothers who can't pay their bills. Lazarus Omondi says it's the only way he can keep his medical center running.
The director of the Pumwani Maternity Hospital, located in a hardscrabble neighborhood of downtown Nairobi, freely acknowledges what he is accused of: detaining mothers who can't pay their bills.
"They stay there until they pay. They must pay," he said of the 350 mothers who give birth each week on average. "If you don't pay, the hospital will collapse."
"We hold you and squeeze you until we get what we can get. We must be self-sufficient," Mr. Omondi said in an interview in his hospital office. "The hospital must get money to pay electricity, to pay water. We must pay our doctors and our workers."
