A CCTV footage has revealed how police dramatically arrested Grace Njoki and dragged her out of Ladnan Hospital.
In the video that is two minutes and 51 seconds long, Njoki who was one of the women who stormed Health CS Deborah Barasa's press briefing at Afya House last week, is seen hobbling painfully up the staircase leading to the hospital facility.
Dressed in a checked blue, green dress and grey boots, Njoki who has had a problem with her Knees, is seen struggling to walk up the staircase.
Her face is a canvas of discomfort and determination with each step becoming a challenge.
As she struggles up, her other leg is seen bearing the brunt of her weight as she winces with every movement.
The echo of her labored breathing mingles with the faint hum of hospital activity.
Minutes later, she is seen mingling freely with the hospital attendants as they exchange white papers whose handwriting is not legible.
As they continue to have a tête-à-tête, a woman dressed in a navy blue suit is seen getting into the door and touching Njoki's shoulder.
As Njoki tries to move away from the stranger, two other men enter through the door and begin to talk to Njoki who now looks a bit scared.
One of them, taller than the rest, moves directly to Njoki and starts talking to her.
She tries to make a call, but before she can finish, another female officer also steps forward ready to grab her arm.
After a few minutes, she is seen in a boardroom with the four strangers and some three police officers who are in blue uniform.
In the video, four officers are seen trying to grab her by force before even as Njoki recoils, struggling to break free.
A gasp ripples through the small crowd of onlookers, but no one moves to intervene. She thrashes against their grip, her free hand clawing at the man’s wrist.
“Let go of me!” she screams, her voice raw with desperation. The officers tighten their hold, dragging her toward the exit as she kicks and flails.
Her injured leg drags behind her with the onlookers exchanging uneasy glances but remain rooted to the spot, frozen by fear or uncertainty.
The officers and the un-uniformed police officers move swiftly, their grip on her unrelenting as they haul her out of the hospital doors.
Her pleas fade into the distance, leaving silence in their wake. She is then taken into a car that is waiting outside the parking lot.
A statement by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Thursday night stated that Njoki was arrested for causing a disturbance at the Ministry of Health Boardroom.
She has since been released on a cash bail of Sh10,000 after spending the night in custody.
After her release, Njoki said the arrest felt more like an abduction because the officers refused to identify themselves.
Njoki claimed that all they insisted on was that whether she liked it or not, they were leaving the hospital with her.
She noted that they also took her to three different locations before settling on where she was detained.
“I had gone to seek treatment at Ladnan hospital because I was sick and I saw a security person I had seen in Kenyatta. I sensed I was being followed but he claimed he had a patient. When I went to collect my results (at KNH) he appeared from nowhere, greeted me and asked what I was there for. I could identify him but he claimed he had a patient," she narrated.
“Less than 10 minutes later a man and a lady came and said they wanted to take me somewhere. I asked where and what I had done. They refused to tell me. I asked why they were arresting me they refused to say. They said I was not being arrested but one told me Úpende usipende utatoka hapa'. I felt threatened and asked the lady where they were taking me, but they did not clarify."
Njoki, a 61-year-old nurse, was among the patients who visited the Ministry of Health offices on January 15, 2025, to protest over Social Health Authority's (SHA).
SHA, the health scheme touted as one of President William Ruto's legacy projects, replaced the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).
Njoki questioned why the scheme was not working hence forcing patients to be stranded at hospitals.
The fracas led to Kenyatta National Hospital's Chief Executive Officer Evanson Kamuri acknowledging delays in the SHA system for over 48 hours which paralysed services.
He, however, said that the issue had been rectified.
"The recent system downtime experienced over the last two days temporarily disrupted some services, causing delays in patient clearance and administrative processes," the statement read in part.
