Health Budget 2024: Anganwadi, ASHA workers explain how the expansion of Ayushman Bharat cover can help them

Explains Parulekar, “Anganwadi workers operate in rural areas with limited healthcare accessibility, often necessitating visits to private facilities for treatment of complex illnesses. We have to dip into our own pockets for medical expenses. Now, with the universal coverage provided by the insurance, we can avail treatment in empanelled hospitals without financial strain.” Sakuntala Naidu, an Anganwadi worker from Karnataka, welcomes the change, saying, “It will address the challenges faced by anganwadi workers in regions with limited healthcare access.”

Explaining the pivotal nature of these community workers, Vrishali Shruti, a member of the Delhi State Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Union, says these women go out in the field to vaccinate for polio, do surveys and have even worked during Covid with many of them passing away. “But hardly anyone has got their due. These workers singlehandedly raise the level of health awareness among marginalized sections within the community,” she adds.

Welcoming the move, 40-year-old Geeta Negi, who works as an anganwadi worker in Shriram Colony Project, Delhi, says, “Many Anganwadi workers can’t even afford government hospitals. Many of them are widows and single mothers who are looking after their children on their own.” says Geeta.

Says Nirmala Kumari, an anganwadi worker in Chandigarh, “This will give us cover for surgeries and advanced treatments in government hospitals.” Chandigarh and its periphery areas have 450 anganwadi centres whose workers are paid a monthly honorarium, from both the Central and State funds. While anganwadi workers get a monthly sum of Rs 4,500 (Centre) and Rs 3,600 (state), helpers receive Rs 2,500 (Centre) and Rs 1,800 (state). As per Dr Palika Arora, Director, Social Welfare, Women and Child Development, these workers are dedicated and reach out to varied sections of society for mass drives like immunisation.

However, Kiran Moghe, Secretary, ASHA Workers’ Union, Pune, feels that the scheme means little considering that their wages are a pittance. “This cannot be a substitute for higher wages that will improve nutrition and ensure better health outcomes. ASHA workers were incentivised with a paltry Rs 8 grant for every card they helped to issue, processing each of which takes at least 30 to 45 minutes. The government should have announced minimum wages too,” she says.

Rajni Saini, a 39-year-old ASHA worker in Delhi’s Alipur area, says that her sister Indu Bala Saini, who was a helper with one of the projects in East Delhi, passed away in 2021 because the entire process of treatment was cumbersome and she was not getting off from work as well. “She was the only earning member and had to go to RML Hospital for treatment. The doctor had told us to get a kidney transplant but we did not have the resources. This scheme can help us,” says Rajni.

The Maharashtra government had declared universal health coverage for all citizens last year, which also included Anganwadi and ASHA workers. However, Parulekar feels, “The insurance facilities are currently restricted to major operations in tertiary care hospitals. Many smaller nursing homes remain unpanelled.”