Hundreds of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) on Monday staged a protest at Chowkidinghee in Dibrugarh seeking increment in wages and other facilities. Appointed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in 2005, the ASHA workers have been working towards achieving several goals on a grassroot level such as promoting universal immunisation, community counselling and creating awareness on healthcare initiatives.
There are around 33,000 ASHA workers in the state who are paid a monthly remuneration of Rs 3,000. The ASHA workers have been seeking permanent appointment similar to the workers under the National Health Mission, minimum monthly salary of Rs 10,000, clearance of arrears in salary which is pending from 2013 to 2017, allottment of health cards to every ASHA worker under Atal Amrit Yojana and Ayushman Bharat Yojana extension of jobs for ASHA workers who have attained 60 years.
“The ASHA workers are paid a nominal monthly remuneration of Rs 3,000 which is not only insufficient but also inhuman. There are no holidays, casual or earned leaves. There is no medical leave. In Dibrugarh district alone there are around 3,300 ASHA workers. During the fight against Covid-19 our ASHA workers did an exemplary job from door-to-door surveys, distributing medicine kits, measuring oxygen saturation, monitoring containment zones and spreading awareness about vaccines. However despite putting our best efforts we are being neglected. We urge the government to look into the issues faced by us,” Dibrugarh district unit president of the Assam State ASHA Union, Jyoti Saikia said
