The Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) who played a pivotal role in the screening and providing medical services to people residing in the rural areas, during the first wave of Covid, are again at the forefront after the state government issued an order on Thursday for screening and monitoring the migrant workers who are returning home from various states.
A health department officer said 1.54 lakh ASHA workers in the villages have been assigned the task of screening the migrant workers staying at quarantine centres set up in the villages or the home quarantine.
The ASHA workers have been directed to prepare a list of the migrant workers who have returned home and also to register their health conditions. If any migrant worker is found with Covid symptoms then the ASHA workers will alert the nearest health centre, ensure that the infected migrant remains in isolation and their family members adopt all precautionary measures, he said.
However, a large number of ASHA workers complained that they have not been given basic protective gears and sanitiser for their protection from Covid-19 that is crucial during the field visits. Besides, no payment is being made for the survey work even their monthly remuneration is also pending.
Chanda Yadav, an ASHA worker based in Gorakhpur said the ASHA workers across Uttar Pradesh were assisting the state government in the Covid vaccination drive, routine immunization, nutrition distribution, taking care of pregnant women and newborns. After the fresh order by the state government, the ASHA workers are visiting villages to screen the migrant workers and enlisting them as well. Despite the high infection rate, we have not been provided protective gear, dress kits and sanitisers. We have been handed over a mask and were told to visit the villages, she said.
{{/usCountry}}Chanda Yadav, an ASHA worker based in Gorakhpur said the ASHA workers across Uttar Pradesh were assisting the state government in the Covid vaccination drive, routine immunization, nutrition distribution, taking care of pregnant women and newborns. After the fresh order by the state government, the ASHA workers are visiting villages to screen the migrant workers and enlisting them as well. Despite the high infection rate, we have not been provided protective gear, dress kits and sanitisers. We have been handed over a mask and were told to visit the villages, she said.
{{/usCountry}}The state is in the grip of the major Covid surge, yet the ASHA workers are in the field preparing the list of the migrant workers, they are also sending details of their health condition, but the local officers are not concerned about our safety. Several ASHA workers have been infected and their family members have urged the health department to arrange for the treatment and hospital admission, said Yadav who is also president of the ASHA workers association.
Pushpa Devi, an ASHA worker based in Lalitpur district said a majority of the ASHA workers come from poor or low-income group families, the state health department has not cleared the monthly remuneration, and we are being forced to work without pay. Earlier we were entrusted in the care of the mother and child now we are roped in with all the health and welfare schemes launched in the rural areas. We have urged the state government to make a fixed monthly payment but there is no taker of our genuine demands, she said.
A state government official said the Uttar Pradesh unit of the National Health Mission (NHM) has been directed to clear the arrears of the ASHA workers and to provide them with protective gears and gadgets for the field visit.
ACS, health and family welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad said the ASHA workers have been directed to visit the house of the quarantined migrant workers after a gap of three days. With maintaining social distancing, the worker will screen the migrant, collect information from the family members about the health condition. The ASHA worker will ensure that the elderly, pregnant women, children and those with comorbidity remain in separate rooms, he said.