By Hyline Ocharo
A worker at a private hospital was on Wednesday morning found dead inside a toilet within the facility’s premises, in a case that has shocked colleagues and raised questions over alleged unpaid salaries.
The deceased was later identified as Rodgers Masese, a subordinate staff member at Hema Hospital.
Colleagues told reporters that Masese was among about 15 workers who had allegedly gone without pay for more than a year.
They said they had repeatedly asked the hospital administration to settle their dues but their appeals had not been successful.
According to the workers, the management later terminated their employment without clearing the pending salaries.
They further claimed that Masese’s financial situation worsened after he failed to keep up with rent payments, prompting his landlord to lock his house over arrears.
Following the eviction, colleagues alleged that Masese moved back to the hospital compound where he had reportedly been sleeping in one of the facility’s toilets — the same place where his body was discovered on Wednesday morning.
“This is very painful. We had been struggling for over a year without pay,” one worker said, adding that Masese had been under severe financial pressure.
The workers also alleged that Masese’s twin brother, who had also been employed at the same hospital, died earlier under similar circumstances after reportedly being dismissed without receiving his dues.
They have now called on the hospital administration to urgently pay their outstanding salaries, saying the prolonged delays have pushed many employees into extreme financial hardship.
“We are suffering. Many of us cannot pay rent or support our families,” another employee said.
Efforts by the media to get a response from the hospital administration were unsuccessful. The hospital administrator declined to comment on the matter.
Masese’s body has since been moved to the morgue at Hema Hospital as authorities prepare to launch investigations into the circumstances surrounding his death.