Govt hikes incentives for ASHA workers

Haryana health minister Anil Vij on Friday said that the file pertaining to Asha (accredited social health activists) workers’ incentives had been cleared and the guidelines in the context, issued to all civil surgeons.

Earlier, the liability was of ₹57 crore and an additional liability of ₹104 crore, resulting in total liability of ₹161 crore, which would be borne by the government, he said.

Raja Shekhar Vundru, principal secretary (health) said that since the letters had been issued to all district authorities regarding the financial approval of Asha workers’ incentives, they should resume their duties with immediate effect so that they could provide health services to general public specially to the pregnant women and children.

Amneet P Kumar, mission director, national health mission, Haryana, said that the monthly fixed honorarium had been increased from ₹1,000 to ₹4,000 and weightage would be given to eligible Asha in the appointments and engagement of regular or contractual multi-purpose health worker (female) and staff nurses. Performance based incentives for 5 major activities had also been increased, she added. It may be recalled that Asha workers had again launched their indefinite strike from Wednesday against delay by the state government to execute the recent agreement pertaining to their demands.

There are about 19,800 Asha workers in the state who had gone strike on June 7, last but called it off after government agreed upon their demands for hike in the incentives.

ASHA WORKERS HAD LAUNCHED AN INDEFINITE STRIKE AGAINST DELAY BY GOVT TO EXECUTE THE RECENT AGREEMENT PERTAINING TO THEIR DEMANDS