A Kenyan court has ruled that the jailing of two men who refused to take their TB medications was unlawful.
The two, Daniel Ng’etich and Patrick Kipngetich were sent to prison in 2010 for eight months or until the satisfactory completion of their TB treatment, after originally failing to stick to their drug regime.
In the precedent-setting judgement, Judge Mumbi Ngugi said both safeguarding the public from infection and upholding the patients’ rights was a tricky balancing act.
She added that crowded prisons were the worst places to try and isolate people with infectious diseases.
She also noted that Kenya lacked a proper isolation facility at the time the two patients were imprisoned.
The court did not however award the two any damages “because it is not in the interest of the public and the decision was reached as a last resort”, the court ruled.
They two have now recovered fully from TB.
