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ASHA warriors in Ludhiana facing hard time at work amid residents’ apathy
Many residents are either not opening the door or threatening health workers against pasting stickers outside their houses, ASHA workers said
ASHA workers, also termed front-line Covid warriors, are facing a hard time in fulfilling their duties. As the number of infections rise in the district, their problems at work are also increasing.
Residents of micro-containment zones, particularly affluent classes, are posing a major impediment for the health department in conducting surveys. Many residents are either not opening the door or threatening health workers against pasting stickers outside their houses.
Currently, there are 31 micro-containment zones in the city. ASHA workers are visiting these areas to get details of residents living there.
The attack on a health worker, Mastan Singh, at Prabhu Da Dera in Khanpur village on August 12, has highlighted how health care workers are being treated cruelly, said Harmeet Kaur, an ASHA worker with mobile team no six of the health department.
“In Haibowal, our colleague was scolded by a woman when she was conducting survey of houses to collect details of residents living in an area where a family was found infected by coronavirus,” Kaur said.
“Recently, the family of a Covid patient in civil lines started yelling at us when we pasted a sticker outside their house. They told us to remove it and started dropping names of senior officials. As we refused to remove the sticker, a youngster came out of the house and peeled it off in front of us,” another ASHA worker said.
Dr Parminder Kaur, in-charge of mobile team number 1, from civil surgeon’s office, also complained about the indifferent attitude of people. “We visited Rajguru Nagar to collect samples from micro-containment zones, but people are not cooperating. They told us that they are responsible for their health, and would provide sample only if they showed symptoms of the virus,” she said.
Balbir Kaur, president of the ASHA workers’ Union, said, “We are facing a real challenge in posh localities where people who are suppose to be educated lot of society are reluctant to come forward for tests. Most of the times they do not open the door and if they do they speak rudely. We have brought the matter to the authorities and demanded that a medical officer should accompany the ASHA worker,” she said.
Civil surgeon Dr Rajesh Bagga, expressing his anguish over the situation, said that ASHA workers are putting their life at risk to save others and people should empathise with them.
“People living in micro-containment zones should come forward and get tests done. So far, it has been observed that asymptomatic patients have been a carrier and end up infecting patients with comorbidities. The health department employees are visiting micro-containments zone and asking people to get their tests done but people are still not coming forward,” the civil surgeon said.
