The National Health Mission (NHM) Meghalaya today said that it has released a total amount of Rs 53 crore in financial year 2021-22 for payment to the ASHA workers under the Meghalaya ASHA Benefit Scheme (MABS) and the Meghalaya Maternity Benefit Scheme (MMBS).
In a statement issued today, the NHM Meghalaya said that this is the highest ever amount released by the government in any year since inception of NHM for both the MABS and MMBS for clearing of any backlog incentive up to March 2021.
“The Government of Meghalaya has duly released sanctions under the MABS for clearing of any backlog incentive up to March 2021. The sanction letter has been given to Deputy Commissioners of all districts on the funds released on 29th March 2022 with copies to District Medical and Health Officers for their information and necessary action,” the statement said.
It also said that MABS and MMBS which are a Government of Meghalaya initiative were introduced in 2011-12.
“The objective of the Meghalaya ASHA Benefit Scheme is to improve service delivery to the community,” it added.
The statement also gave a break-up of sanctions and fund releases from the State government since 2012-2013.
According to the break-up, an amount of Rs 7,80,25,750 was sanctioned and released in 2012-13 while there was no fund sanction or release in 2013-14.
In 2014-15, an amount of Rs 10 crore was sanctioned and released. However, there was no fund sanction or release in 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19.
The NHM said that non-release of funds from 2015-16 to 2018-19 was due to lack of funds and therefore it could not make regular payments to the ASHA workers.
In 2019-20, an amount of Rs 25, 36, 91,500 was sanctioned and released. In 2020-21, an amount of Rs 2.50 crore was sanctioned and released and in 2021-22, an amount of Rs 53 crore was sanctioned and released.
The NHM Meghalaya also said that a meeting on the irregular payments of these incentives was held in the month of June 2021, between the government officials and the Meghalaya ASHA Workers Union, wherein these issues were discussed in detailed and it was decided that the Meghalaya ASHA Benefit Scheme (MABS) will be replaced with a fixed monthly incentive of Rs 2000 per ASHA with effect from April 2021.
It was also decided that Meghalaya Maternity Benefit Scheme (MMBS) will be terminated from April 2021 as there is already a similar existing Central Scheme known as the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) which was introduced in January 2017. It was also decided that backlog payments for both the above mentioned schemes will be paid to the ASHA workers till March 2021.
It also said that with the support of the National Health Mission, the State government has introduced the ASHA and ASHA facilitator payment mobile application.
“The sole purpose of developing the application is to ease the payment process of ASHA incentives and ensure timely disbursement of the same. The application will also be an important support tool for programme officers at all levels as it will enable regular monitoring and tracking of ASHA payment and ensure no time lag in payments,” the statement said.
It also said that this application has been rolled out in Umling Block of Ri-Bhoi district on a pilot basis. The number of ASHAs that have enrolled in the application is 471 from the entire Ri-Bhoi district, the total claims raised is Rs 29.90 lakh.
NHM Meghalaya said that the amount raised has been released for payment to the ASHAs through this application within five days from the time of claims and as such this process has cut down the time from 120-150 days to less than five days.
