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A stylish politician, a business mogul, a tycoon with a big heart and an entrepreneur at the heart of a controversy are adjectives that describe Swarup Mishra who has found himself in the eye of the storm with his hospital coming under scrutiny, shaking the very foundations on which his empire stands and threatening to sink what took decades to build, along with his legacy.
When he arrived in the country with just Sh50,000 to his name, Mishra could not imagine that the next two decades would see him become a billionaire, serve as Member of Parliament in Kenya and in the middle of the present controversy.
Born in Odisha, India, Swarup Mishra completed his primary education at Panchapalli School and later proceeded to Ravenshaw Collegiate School in Cuttack for his secondary education.
He graduated from Berhampur University in India with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) in 1983.
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Nearly ten years later, Mishra completed his Master's in Obstetrics and Gynecology from the University of Rajasthan, India (1991-1994) and relocated to Kenya a few years later to practice.
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He went back to Kiel School of Medicine, Germany for a Diploma in Gynecological Endoscopy, graduating in 2002.
Relocating to Kenya: From Sh50K to building a Sh10 Billion empire
With acute unemployment in India, Mishra and his wife Dr Pallavi Mishra emigrated to Kenya where success, controversy and scandals awaited them.
Landing in the country in 1997 with only USD 500 (The equivalent of Sh30,000 at the time) the couple made Eldoret their home.
The couple embarked on an aggressive job search that saw Dr Pallavi secure employment first, with Mishra getting occasional invites to perform operations in hospitals in around Eldoret, such as Kabarnet and Iten.
The decision to relocate to Kenya paid off handsomely for the couple as Mishra later secured a job as a lecturer at Moi University School of Medicine where he lectured in the department of reproductive health for 16 years.
The birth of Mediheal Group of Hospitals
2006 was a defining moment for the couple with the couple acquiring Pacifica Hospital in Eldoret and renaming it to Mediheal Hospital.
Through loans and savings, the couple expanded their empire with Mediheal Group of Hospitals opening branches in Eldoret, Nakuru, Nairobi, Kigali (Rwanda), Addis Ababa, (Ethiopia), Goma (Democratic Republic of Congo).
We used our savings and our good relationship with the banking sector secured us a loan, without security. As a progressive healthcare provider, we aim to keep expanding with new facilities and continue the momentum as one of the fastest-growing healthcare groups in Africa. Our spectrum of services today is spread across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.
At one point the group of hospitals was valued at over Sh10billion before it all came tumbling down.
"As we are talking now our total investment in terms of the number of hospitals and the services, we offer is around 100 million dollars which is around Sh10 billion,” Mishra said in an interview in 2017.
Supporting local communities and tenure as MP
Mishra used his income from the business to support local communities and became a popular figure in Eldoret and its environs.
He acquired Kenyan citizenship and offered his candidature for Kesses parliamentary seat, sweeping to victory in 2017. He lost the seat in 2022 elections, with his hospital empire also finding itself under increasing scrutiny amid allegations of organ trafficking.
READ: Uasin Gishu elects the first Indian to Parliament, Dr Swarup Ranjan Mishra by a landslide
Swarup Mishra's empire shaken as creditors close in
In the months that followed, creditors came calling with some property belonging to Mediheal Group of Hospitals auctioned.
In 2022, Mediheal hospital was struck from the NHIF list of facilities, a move which saw it miss out on a crucial revenue stream.
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Not long afterwards, the teachers' insurance scheme under Minet also dropped the hospital and consequently, clients moved to facilities accepting NHIF and other health insurance policies for government employees.
With auctioneers queuing up, Mishra took to X in June 2024, linking his woes to politics.
After two years of living on my knees under constant threat and losing millions to systemic blackmail, I wake up to find everything I have worked for, for over 20 years, is being auctioned…Where are we headed as Kenyans? Am I the only political target? No, we are many
Several branches of the hospital closed their doors, with Mishra’s fortunes taking a dip for the worse as a probe was launched into the hospital’s kidney transplant program.
Earlier this week, Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale highlighted five major red flags in Mediheal’s kidney transplant program.
A special audit of kidney transplant files at Mediheal revealed disturbing irregularities, including lack of verified donor-recipient relationships, with some pairs hailing from different nationalities — a potential indicator of organ trafficking
Time will tell whether this scandal that has so far seen President William Ruto suspend him from his position as the Chair of the Kenya BioVax Institute is the beginning of the end for Mishra or the end of the beginning with another chapter to come.