Community health workers object to ₹75 a day honorarium

However, the state government has earmarked a daily honorarium of ₹75 to visit 25 homes even though the volunteers were getting ₹125 for the same work in 2020 when the last such survey was conducted

Mumbai: City’s community health workers (CHW) have refused to undertake door-to-door tuberculosis (TB) and leprosy surveys by the civic body that was to kickstart on September 26 over the paltry honorarium. They decided to take up the work after officials assured them that their demands would be forwarded to the state authorities.

The health workers are expected to visit 25 homes for the TB survey and required to counsel family members. (Pratik Chorge/HT PHOTO)

The three-week-long TB and leprosy detection campaign by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which plans to cover 9.86 lakh households, is part of the government of India’s plan to eliminate TB by 2025 and leprosy by 2030. A team consisting of one municipal and one community health worker was to undertake the door-to-door survey. However, the state government has earmarked a daily honorarium of ₹75 to visit 25 homes even though the volunteers were getting ₹125 for the same work in 2020 when the last such survey was conducted.

The workers union met BMC officials on Tuesday to discuss the issue, and have decided to start the work from Wednesday after getting assurances of their honorarium being increased. “This is an additional task over the regular duties of the CHWs. Our objection was about the fact that the honorarium was reduced to half of what was given for the same job in 2020 when one expects it to increase with time,” said advocate Prakash Devdas, president, Mahapalika Arogyasewa Karmachari Sanghatan.

Devdas said very few of the 4000-strong workforce of CHWs in Mumbai found this low pay agreeable, and therefore decided not to participate in the survey until the issue was resolved.

One health worker who did not wish to be named told HT that this survey requires them to diagnose as well as counsel the family members in each household they visit. “The current honorarium comes down to getting ₹3 for every household we speak to, which is a ridiculously low payment,” she said.

The usual job of these CHWs is to keep in touch with 60 families each in their given areas. They advise and keep watch over the health requirements, especially paediatric and maternal health among these families.

Dr Mangala Gomare, BMC’s executive health officer acknowledged the problem, though she said that the BMC had no authority to make the changes demanded by the workers.

“This honorarium is being awarded to the community health workers over and above their salaries for the task of visiting 25 houses per day. They approached us with the demands of increasing this honorarium, but the decision regarding this will have to come from the state government,” she said.

She added that the demand will be forwarded to the appropriate authorities for consideration. “In the meantime, we have told the workers to continue doing the work,” she said.