Herbalists in Nakuru County are infuriated by the coronavirus pandemic for dismantling their business and want the government to include them among the vulnerable groups since their herbs were not being bought.

A Masai herbalist John ole Pasha who has practiced for the last six years in Nakuru town, said the many jokes and memes on social media about their practice being rendered worthless by covid-19 has made them to lose customers and their daily bread.

However, he said he was concerned that some of his patients mainly the diabetic ones who depended on his medicine and had progressed so well might start taking western medicine and make their ailment worse.

“My herbs have treated many type-2 diabetes patients since it removes fats from the body and that rejuvenates the pancreas to start balancing sugar, and l am worried about their progress since they are no longer picking their herbs,” he stated.

However, he admitted that they have not yet found herbs which could assist the covid-19 patients since it’s a new disease, for which even the western medicine has no cure.

But he said with time, once the disease was understood, they were likely to find herbs which could cure it.

He urged the younger generation to desist from mocking herbal medicine since that’s what their parents have used on them since they were born.

He praised the government’s efforts to halt the spread of Covid-19 and said they were also following the government directive of social distancing, washing hands and wearing masks in public.

However, he refused to be taken a picture for fear of being arrested for selling alternative medicine during a pandemic.

KNA by Veronica Bosibori