The world’s oldest man aged 128 is denied healthcare

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The world’s oldest men, 128-year-old Julius Wanyondu Gatonga, lives in Kenya with his 89-year old wife Beth Wanjiru. 

Gatonga’s ID card shows him to be 128 years old. 

Now he is being denied health care because of his age.

According to the Kenyan National Hospital Insurance Fund Gatonga is deemed too old for their computer system, since his ID indicates that he was born in 1884, the computer system only accept birth dates from 1890. 
For this reason, he cannot be covered by Kenyan National Hospital Insurance. His age is beyond the Kenyan National Hospital Insurance computer system, so his application to be a member was rejected due to his age.

Family members do not know why this was happening. “This is unbelievable and unacceptable, we are urging the authorities to consider his case and do something about it, he is our father, we love him, no matter what his age, he deserves to be taken care of,” Gatonga’s son said. 

“The man has been regarded as being too old for the computer, despite the company’s claim that there is no age limit with the fund, and that is not right,” Kenyan National Hospital Insurance agent, John Macharia said. 

For now a privet insurance company gave him medical insurance but only for one year.