Suit challenges Kenyan hospital detainings

NAIROBI, Kenya -- 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.

Two mothers who live in a mud-wall and tin-roof slum a short walk from the maternity hospital told The Associated Press that Pumwani wouldn't let them leave after delivering their babies. The bills the mothers couldn't afford were $60 and $160.

Now a Manhattan-based group has filed a lawsuit on the women's behalf in hopes of forcing Pumwani to stop the practice.

"The hospital must get money to pay electricity, to pay water," Omondi said in an interview in his hospital office.

"They stay there until they pay," he said of the 350 mothers who give birth each week on average.

One woman says she was detained for nine months and was released only after going on a hunger strike. Judy Okal, the acting Africa director for the Center for Reproductive Rights, said her group filed the lawsuit so all Kenyan women, regardless of socioeconomic status, are able to receive health care without fear of imprisonment. -- AP