No fixed honorarium, Punjab health workers left in lurch

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 5

Though Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi has been promising the moon to Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) in Uttar Pradesh, her party’s government is yet to give them fixed monthly honorarium in Punjab.

Recently, Gandhi had announced if the Congress forms the government in UP, it will raise the honorarium of the workers to Rs 10,000 per month. But in Punjab, where there are 21,418 ASHAs, they are neither being given any maternity leave nor fixed monthly honorarium like other states.

The neighbouring states are giving minimum monthly honorarium to the workers besides other incentives. Haryana pays them Rs 4,000 per month, Himachal Pradesh Rs 2,000, Rajasthan Rs 2,700 and Delhi Rs 3,000. At present, ASHAs are getting only per-patient incentive in Punjab.

Earlier, during the Covid wave, Punjab’s former Health Minister Balbir Sidhu had promised to give them Rs 2,500 per month as minimum wage. After the change of guard, Health Minister OP Soni had said they should be given Rs 4,000 like Haryana. But in the last meeting, the government refused to do so. Sources said the National Health Mission had even sent a proposal to give minimum wages of Rs 2,500 to them, but the government refused to do so. Health Minister Om Parkash Soni did not take the call despite repeated attempts.