Rumonge : a young boy held in hospital for inability to pay his bill

Jean Marie Nibigira (15 years old) has been held at Rumonge hospital (southwest Burundi) since April 2024. The hospital demands that he pay a bill for the care he received when he was ill, in vain. Children’s rights activists are demanding his release and that his employer pay the bill. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Originally from Makombe village in Vumbi district, Kirundo province (northern Burundi), Jean Marie Nibigira was employed as a cow herder in Rumonge, according to local sources. But he and his employer bickered and the latter even almost killed him.

“The young boy was found dying in a gutter before being evacuated by residents to Rumonge hospital,” local sources say.

At Rumonge hospital, they reportedly noticed that Nibigira needed, in addition to medical care, psychiatric monitoring before transferring him to the Kamenge psychological center in the commercial city Bujumbura.

What happened?

According to witnesses, it was his boss who tried to kill him.

“In December 2023, Nibigira asked for his 10 months’ salary. In response, his employer accused him of being a thief. He seriously beat him and threw him away from his home located in Gihwanya neighborhood, leaving him for dead. This is why he was discovered by passers-by in a gutter. Fortunately, God saved him,” sources in Rumonge say.

Sources at the hospital indicate that Jean Marie Nibigira is held for an unpaid treatment bill.

“It’s a lot of money. The hospital authority refused him the authorization to leave the hospital. He is monitored by security agents,” they confirmed to SOS Médias Burundi under cover of ‘anonymity.

Children’s rights defenders cry foul. They demand that the child be released and that justice examines the case of his executioner.

“The young boy should have his salary and compensation and then he should rejoin his family which he almost never saw again,” they plead.