On the evening of Sunday, November 9, 2025, the voice of “Eleventh Hour” hitmaker gospel singer Betty Bayo grew faint.
At her home in Nairobi, she’d been feeling unwell. Hours later, she was bleeding, weak, having to summon herself downstairs, fumble for her car keys, and beep her horn to wake neighbours that something was wrong.
Her closest friend, Shiru Wa GP, had left to rest, exhausted. Little did she know her friend was in the midst of one last struggle.
“Amidst the pain and discomfort, she walked herself downstairs, got her car keys, opened the main door, and went to her car,” Shiru later said.
The desperate dash
Neighbours rushed Betty Bayo to a private hospital along Kiambu Road. The clock was ticking. She was pale, bleeding, gasping.
But at the reception, the world froze.
Before doctors could touch her, they demanded KSh 260,000 as a deposit.
“She was bleeding so much,” Shiru said.
“They told us treatment couldn’t start until the deposit was paid.”
It was the kind of delay that feels endless. Every minute was a heartbeat lost. Friends called, others pleaded, but policy stood firm: no deposit, no admission.
When Shiru finally arrived, she settled the amount. Only then did treatment begin. But the damage had been done. Hours lost. Hope slipping.
A fight already fading
Doctors fought to stabilise her. But Betty’s body had endured too much.
She was later transferred to Kenyatta National Hospital, where she died on Monday, November 10, 2025, at 1:03 pm.
The cause, acute leukaemia, had bled her dry. Yet what haunts her friends most is not just the illness. It’s the wait. The cold demand for money before mercy.
READ ALSO: Betty Bayo Biography: How Late Singer Got Her Stage Name, Marriages, Legacy
She didn’t deserve this
Shiru’s grief is raw, almost unbearable.
“I still can’t believe it,” she said in a trembling livestream.
“My friend fought so hard, but the system failed her.”
Kenyans online raged
“How can a bleeding patient be asked for a deposit?” one post read.
“Hospitals are meant to save lives, not check wallets.”
“How can a patient in a life-threatening emergency be denied treatment until a deposit is paid—does this not violate the right to life and emergency medical care guaranteed under Kenya’s Constitution?” wrote Elijah K Samuel.
“…Hospitals turning away patients may seem acceptable in principle, but if that patient later dies and it’s established that their case was serious and there was negligence on the part of the hospital, then the hospital should face crippling penalties.” Wrote Samuel Mwangi.
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