Bondo: Nurses join the hearse business

Nurses in Bondo, Siaya County, are being criticized for starting a hearse business. They have announced on their social media that they have founded a hearse business to which residents in Siaya are not pleased about.

*The members of the nurses association during the opening of their hearse business*

An official of the nurses association, Dominic Omolo, had pitched the idea of running a hearse business in 2017 due to high cost of burying their colleagues. He added that hiring a hearse from Kisumu costs Sh20, 000 at the least thus the business in Bondo would be cheap and available for the residents.

Bondo Nurses Welfare Association member, John Ogeya, is not pleased with his colleagues who are going against their duties. The association is meant to open nursing homes and dispensaries rather than a hearse business.

Mr. Ogeya came out to the nurses saying, “This is a step in the wrong direction by the nurses.”

The residents of Bondo are as well terming it as a means of starting conflict between the nurses and the hearse business people. They see it as a means of unjust competition since the nurses’ work in hospitals.

The association has spent Sh2.8 million to acquire and provide for the hearse business. They also conducted a small ceremony to commemorate their work.

Auscar Wambiya, the acting director of communication shared photos of the ceremony on social media.

Bondo residents have blamed Dr. Eunice Fwaya, the county’s Acting Chief Health Officer, for “encouraging laziness.” Dr. Eunice had also attended the ceremony.

However, Mr. Wambiya and Dr. Fwaya have defended the nurses telling the residents that they work hard to protect lives. But when patients succumb to illnesses, they cannot do anything about it.

Nurses Strike

Nurses in Siaya County have embarked on a strike to protest over the lack of health insurance among other industrial disputes. The nurses are the first contact point with the patients and they as well spend most time with them. Also, there have been cases of nurses dying in line of work due to Covid-19. They often end up with hospital bills that they are unable to pay due to no health insurance.

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