After Deserting Her When She Needed To Raise Hospital Bill, The Government Honors Ebola Fighting Nurse With State Award

The government has awarded the nurse who died from meningitis contracted while fighting Ebola in Sierra Leone with a state award. Dorothy Ong’onda who was a nurse at the Rift Valley General Hospital and among the volunteers on the trip to Sierra Leone has been awarded by a a Head of State Commendation posthumously.

Dorothy first hit the headlines when she was airlifted from Sierra Leone to KNH having contracted meningitis while working among the Ebola victims. During her treatment, she spent all the money from the Sierra Leone embassy 200k, and a further 150/- raised by the family for bills and still it was not enough.

She got no help from the government in a journey that saw her move from hospital to hospital looking for cheaper but effective health care. She would pass on in the Coptic Hospital in Maseno after neglect in her former hospital and lack of government support through all her tribulations only to get a State commendation at her burial. Such is the brutality of life.