Gurgaon: ASHA workers from across Haryana will stage a protest outside the National Health Mission (NHM) headquarters in Panchkula on Tuesday, demanding restoration of withheld payments, social security benefits and greater transparency in the payment system.In a notice addressed to the mission director, Haryana, on July 16, the ASHA Workers Union Haryana said the demonstration would be organised on July 21 and would go ahead unless its long-pending demands were addressed.Among its key demands is the restoration of the fixed honorarium and incentives deducted during the ASHA workers’ strike between Aug 7 and Oct 19, 2023. “The honorarium and incentives deducted during the 2023 strike are yet to be restored. More than two years have passed and ASHA workers are still waiting for their legitimate dues,” said Komal, an ASHA worker.The union has also sought payment of incentives for home-based newborn care and home-based young child care visits based on actual work carried out. It demanded uniform payment across Haryana for work related to high-risk pregnancies, health and wellness centres, tuberculosis surveys and leprosy programmes.The union has also sought maternity leave and medical leave with honorarium, arguing that frontline health workers should receive basic service benefits. “Despite playing a frontline role in public healthcare, ASHA workers still do not receive basic service benefits such as maternity leave and medical leave with honorarium. These are long-pending rights that must be ensured,” said ASHA worker Pushpa.Another major issue raised is the increasing dependence on online reporting. The union has demanded that NHM withdraw notices related to honorarium deductions linked to online reporting of work, stop penalising workers over technical issues, issue salary slips and improve the existing performance portal to ensure a transparent online payment system. “ASHA workers are being burdened with increasing online reporting requirements, and many are facing deductions in their honorarium over technical issues,” said Lakshi Devi, an ASHA worker.Other demands include unconditional payment of Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) delivery incentives, including for deliveries outside the worker’s district; implementation of per-session honorarium for routine immunisation across Haryana; linking honorarium with dearness allowance; payment of ration allowance and festival bonus; and clear guidelines for ASHA facilitators and their uniform implementation across the state.The union has also sought ambulance facilities for women returning home after childbirth, adequate food for pregnant women at primary health centres and delivery centres, timely supply of essential registers and health cards, transfers only with the consent of ASHA workers, payment of tuberculosis-related incentives even when cases are not uploaded online due to technical issues, and additional incentives for accompanying high-risk patients.A health department official said the department had received the memorandum and forwarded the demands to the state govt.
