Maria Cheng, medical writer, London news; Bram Janssen, visual journalist, Istanbul news; Jerome Delay, chief photographer, Johannesburg; and Nairobi personnel Khaled Kazziha, senior producer; Geoffrey Kaviti, freelancer; and Desmond Tiro, intern, for their all-formats AP investigation in Nairobi that revealed that in countries around the world, patients are being held hostage in hospitals even though they are well enough to go home – because they can’t pay their bills.
AP Investigation: Hospitals hold patients hostage for cash
Margaret Oliele, former detained patient, poses for a portrait in her home in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2018. During a botched cesarean section in 2010, doctors left a pair of surgical scissors inside her stomach; a second surgery was needed to remove the scissors and she later suffered a ruptured bladder and a blood infection. When she couldn’t pay her hospital fees, Oliele was taken to a detention ward. “I tried to escape, but when I got to the main gate, I was taken by the security guards.”
AP Photo / Bram Janssen