ASHAs in Hry fighting corona without armour
VULNERABLE Two workers have already contracted the virus
CHANDIGARH: They are among the frontline corona warriors, yet numerous representations by Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) in Haryana for the very basic safety equipment such as masks, gloves, head-gears and sanitisers seem to have fallen on deaf ears of health authorities to this day.
Result: Two such workers have already contracted the coronavirus and many more are at risk due to the nature of their duties involving exposure to a large number of people, including potential virus carriers.
There are about 19,000 ASHAs in the state, most of whom are engaged in tasks such as conducting health surveys of every household in the areas assigned to them, besides routine vaccinations and health-related works in all 22 districts of Haryana.
“All these health activists have been working hard since mid-March and repeatedly asking, verbally and in written representations, that they need the basic safety gears like masks, gloves and sanitizers, besides a smartphone as they have now been asked to update all activities online. They come from humble backgrounds and cannot afford high-end cell phones. We have again written to the health authorities, after another ASHA tested positive in Ambala after the first such case in Jind,” said Surekha, general secretary of the ASHA workers’ association.
In Ambala, these workers were assigned duties in different areas to check foreign-returnees and ensure that they were quarantined. In the second round, they were allotted duties to check residents with flu-like symptoms and refer their case to seniors; samples were taken accordingly. An ASHA tested positive on May 4 and was initially shifted to a designated hospital in Mullana and later to the civil hospital, which did not have adequate facilities.
In Jind, four Anganwadi workers, who had conducted door-todoor surveys without wearing proper safety gears, had tested positive for Covid-19 earlier last month. A senior official of the Jind child development project wing, who did not want to be named, agreed that not all health workers had safety gears.
‘WILL ENSURE GAP ARE PLUGGED QUICKY’
Haryana health minister Anil Vij, said there were clear instructions that all of them would get personal safety gears as per their duty requirements. “Yet, I will ensure that the gaps, if any, in the availability of said safety gears, are immediately plugged,” he added.