ASHA workers to boycott NMC’s measles-rubella drive

Nagpur: Despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assurance in early September that the remuneration amount for ASHA workers will be doubled from October, a financial respite for them is yet to be seen.
Even after handing a memorandum to the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) regarding a wage increase several days ahead of the measles-rubella drive, ASHA and Group Promoter Employees Union are yet to receive a reply. In view of this, president of the union Rajendra Sathe has claimed that ASHA workers will be boycotting the drive in entirety.

NMC is scheduled to begin the drive at all dispensaries, district hospitals and city hospitals from November 27. According to the government-issued notification, ASHA workers are eligible for an honorarium amount of Rs75 per day. The amount is the same for ANM and Aanganwadi workers.

About 500 ASHA workers have been asked to participate in NMC’s drive and expected to work between 8am and 7pm.

“Many workers in our union have complained that the remuneration is highly inadequate. About Rs40 will be spent on conveyance and another Rs10 on tea. How much will be left for them to take back? On the contrary, private nurses are being paid Rs450 per day. We need to be paid at least Rs250-300 per day,” said Sathe, adding that ASHA workers have also not been paid wages for the last two months, nor a Diwali bonus.

NMC coordinator for Measles-Rubella campaign Dr Narendra Bahirwar said that the civic body is helpless at the hands of government directives.

“While we have proposed a hike in the amount, it has remained the same since many years. The rates have been given to us by the government,” he said. Bahirwar assured that the workers would soon receive their pending wages for the past months.

In the meantime, NMC has recorded 140 cases of measles till October 31 this year. The cases were reported from 50 different clusters in the city including Tajbagh, Gond Raja area near Chhota Tajbag and Yashodhara Nagar, said an official from NMC’s health department.

No casualty has been reported this year, the official claimed. “Measles is a highly contagious viral disease that spreads through contact with an infected person’s mucus and saliva,” said the official.

Acting on the directives by the government, NMC will start a vaccination campaign against rubella — a kind of measles characterized by a reddish rash — on Tuesday with an aim to immunize around 4,84,124 children between the age group of nine months to 15 years within the city limits, said NMC’s additional municipal commissioner Ram Joshi in a press conference on Monday.

Deputy director (health services) Dr Sanjay Jaiswal, officiating deputy director Dr Anil Chiwane were also present.

Chiwane said that many cases of childhood abnormalities are a result of rubella infection. He added that the campaign will help immunize all children who have either received incomplete doses or have missed out on them.

The mega measles-rubella (MR) injectable vaccination campaign for schoolchildren to eradicate measles and rubella will kick off from NMC hospitals and from Wednesday, the drive will commence from various city schools, said Chiwane.

“All government and private schools as well as Anganwaadis will be covered under the programme by well-trained health officials in the coming 30 working days,” he said.

To a query, Chiwane said if any student remains absent during the day of vaccination, the health department will ensure his/her immunization.