Asylum Seeker Given £100,000 Hospital Bill After Suffering Stroke

London: Simba Mujakachi, a personal trainer, was just 29 years old in June 2019 when he suffered a catastrophic stroke that left him comatose. When he awoke, he was paralysed on his left side and unable to talk or eat. His stroke could have been prevented by relatively inexpensive medication for a blood clotting condition that, as a refused asylum seeker, he was not entitled to on the NHS. Now Mujakachi, who has lived in the UK since he was a child, owes nearly £100,000 for the emergency treatment that saved his life, a staggering sum which he does not know how he will ever repay. “No one can pay £100,000, who has got that? I’m looking at the bill and I’m thinking, that’s a house,” he said.

Mujakachi’s case has received a great deal of support in Sheffield and across the UK. The Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam, Olivia Blake, has spoken in parliament on his behalf and a petition created by his partner, Melissa Smith, calls for the cancellation of his debt and has attracted 75,000 signatures.
You can sign the petition here, https://is.gd/tjrEI2

Read more: Robyn Vinter, Guardian, https://is.gd/3er3Xz