The Health Department has decided to increase the fixed incentive for Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) in the State from the existing Rs 2000 to Rs 3000, under a new scheme called the Community Based Health Incentive Scheme.
The decision was taken during a meeting chaired by Health Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh with functionaries of the Meghalaya ASHA Workers’ Union (MAWU) today.
Under the new scheme, the Village Health Councils (VHCs) headed by the headmen at the community level will be responsible for reviewing and evaluating the performance of ASHAs in fulfilling the specified health milestones.
Lyngdoh informed that Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has agreed in principle that an additional amount of Rs 1000 can be considered and added to the existing Rs 2000 fixed incentive from the State government.
She also said that the State is annually spending about Rs 17 crore on fixed incentives at the rate of Rs 2000 per month on the honorarium given to the ASHAs in addition to around Rs 22 to 23 crore annual spending from NHM as performance-based incentives.
The fixed incentives for the ASHAs was initiated in April 2021 because about 70 per cent of villages in Meghalaya have a small population and therefore, in order to ensure equity and basic minimum financial support for all ASHAs, the State introduced the fixed incentive system in place of existing performance linked schemes.
Under the new scheme, the revised incentives for ASHAs will be based on ASHAs contribution and their efforts along with VHCs and Health Teams of PHC, CHC, sub-centres to improve community-level health indicators.
These include: Making all out efforts to save the lives of mothers and children, Screening and Referral of NCD Cases, Ensuring 100 per cent Full Immunisation Coverage of babies up to one year of age and Ensuring 100 per cent ANC Coverage for Pregnant Mothers, among others.
It was also informed that a dedicated Committee will be put in place for streamlining the newly announced Community Based Health Incentive Scheme for ASHA. The committee will comprise one ASHA representative from each district, a representative from VHC from each district, NHM officials, and State officials. It will also look into all the grievances put forth by the ASHAs during the discussion in today’s meeting.
Speaking during the discussion, Principal Secretary, Health Department, Sampath Kumar reiterated that the State has taken up the concerns and issues raised by ASHA workers with utmost sincerity and dedication. He added that the State has been working strategically to address the systemic issues and to address the challenges of the community-level health workers. The State played a pivotal role in implementing the “ASHA First” application for seamless payment of ASHA incentives and to avoid delays in payments.
He also emphasised that ASHAs are community volunteers identified by their respective village communities, and therefore the spirit of volunteerism has to be kept alive with an aim to save peoples’ lives by assisting health teams of their respective health facilities.
