Dr Swarup Mishra made headlines in the 2017 general election when he was voted Kesses Member of Parliament (MP) despite being an 'outsider'.
Born in Orissa, India in 1965, Mishra and his wife Dr Pallavi Mishra came to Kenya in 1997 and settled in Eldoret, with the hope of getting greener pastures.
Speaking during a past interview, Mishra noted that they arrived in Kenya with 500 dollars which was approximately Sh30,000 back then.
"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,” he said in a past interview.
After settling in Eldoret, his wife was the first to secure employment, while he was occasionally invited to perform surgeries in towns around Eldoret, such as Kabarnet and Iten.
File image of Dr Swarup Mishra. [Photo: Courtesy]
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.
Establishing Mediheal Hospitals
The Mishra family established the first Mediheal hospital in 2006 using their combined savings and loans. The first hospital was established in Eldoret town, along the Eldoret-Nakuru highway.
The hospital majored in reproductive health issues such as fertility. It was the first to perform a laparoscopic donor nephrectomy (kidney transplant using a specialised camera) in the East African region.
The success of the Eldoret facility prompted the couple to open other branches in Nakuru and Nairobi. The Mishras also went international with other branches in Ethiopia and Rwanda.
It is these medical facilities that have amerced over 100 million dollars worth of wealth by the Mishras as of 2017. It is believed that the value may have doubled currently (December 2023).
The hospitals made Mishra a popular figure around Uasin Gishu County as he used proceeds from his investments to support the local community.
His philanthropic activities earned him the name 'Kiprop arap Chelule' so as to fit into the Kalenjin nation to praise him for being a generous man.
"Kiprop means born during the rain while Chelule means from outside baptized into inside," Mishara opined.
Mishra the Politician
In 2017, he made his political debut by vying for the Kesses parliamentary seat which he won on a Jubilee party ticket.
Mishra secured 23,314 votes while his closest challenger Isaac Terer, who was the former Uasin Gishu County Assembly Speaker, got 5,681 votes.
In the 2022 general election, Mishra sought to defend his seat as an independent candidate but was trounced by Julius Ruto of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party.
