Hindustan Times (Jalandhar)

ASHAs in Hry fighting corona without armour

VULNERABLE Two workers have already contracted the virus

- Rajesh Moudgil rajesh.moudgil@hindustant­imes.com (With inputs from Neeraj Mohan, Sunil Rahar, Bhaskar Mukherjee and Bhavey Nagpal)

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.

 ?? MANOJ DHAKA/HT ?? NO GEAR FOR ASHAs: Health workers take stock of the situation at Kakrana village in Rohtak district on Thursday.
MANOJ DHAKA/HT NO GEAR FOR ASHAs: Health workers take stock of the situation at Kakrana village in Rohtak district on Thursday.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from India