Mombasa Health Executive Hazel Koitaba has directed that public service vehicles (PSV) plying all the routes within the county will be required to fumigate at least three times a month.
She explained that a lot of bedbugs were being carried across the region into Mombasa and from one place to another within the county.
Koitaba revealed that they had received many complaints through the media and letters from affected residents.
Public Health Chief Officer Aisha Abubakar mentioned that she would meet all the PSV owners and operators in the coming days to get their views.
Nominated MCA Fatma Kushe plans to present a bill to the County Assembly to have the directive embedded in the county laws.
The parasites are carried unknowingly by passengers from their homes or offices to matatu seats, hence creating a food web.
Nairobi residents have also complained of the bedbug menace, with some claiming that the bugs are planted on the vehicles purposely, to push passengers to call fumigators whose posters are usually displayed inside the matatu.
Those using public transport are asked to file complaints with bus companies if they see bedbugs in their vehicles.
“We will address the menace by asking the sacco managements to regularly fumigate their vehicles to keep the parasites at bay,” Matatu Welfare Association Chairman Dickson Mbugua has been quoted advising.
He insisted that passengers should also observe caution since some vehicles have stickers to alert them of the bedbugs and how to get rid of them even at home.
