On Thursday, Kerala Health Minister Veena George traveled to the national capital to address the long-standing issue of raising the honorarium of Accredited Social Health Activist ASHA workers. Speaking to reporters at the airport, George pointed out that the responsibility for increasing ASHA workers’ honorarium and incentives lies with the central government. “The honorarium has not been increased for the last 20 years. We will tell them everything we need to say, including the need for a hike in the honorarium,” she stated.
This development comes amid ongoing protests by ASHA workers who have been demonstrating outside Kerala’s Secretariat for over a month. The workers, who have threatened an indefinite hunger strike starting Thursday, had previously engaged in two rounds of talks with the state government. Unfortunately, these discussions were unsuccessful, as the protesters claim the government is not willing to meet their basic demands, including the honorarium increase.
Minister George clarified that while the state government would do its best to support the ASHA workers, the central government remains responsible for the honorarium. She further assured that she would meet with the union health minister this week to advocate for the workers’ demands and address issues regarding their guidelines.
The protest has intensified, with hundreds of ASHA workers laying siege to the Secretariat on Monday. Meanwhile, Kerala’s Left government has claimed it has not received any cash grants from the central government for the National Health Mission (NHM) in the fiscal year 2023-24, including for ASHA payments. However, the central government has rejected these claims, saying that funds will be disbursed once the utilization certificate from Kerala is received. Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda recently announced that the Mission Steering Group of the NHM had agreed to raise ASHA workers’ incentives.
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