CHURACHANDPUR, February 11: A look at the Accredited Social Health Activists working in Churachandpur would reveal a lot is still left to be desired, proven by the fact that the number of deliveries with the aid of ASHAs in the maternity ward of the district hospital have dropped considerably, and many expectant mothers in the town are not aware of ASHAs who are there to help facilitate their deliveries by providing information and helping them avail the benefits of different government schemes.
Even though the staffs in the maternity ward maintain that it`™s not a season for deliveries, many would not agree with such assumptions as there are also some active ASHAs like Mrs Niang Tonsing who perform their job with perfection by looking after pregnant women till the time of delivery. She is even reported to go out of her way to `hunt out expectant mothers`™ and help them.
A resident of Khominthang, Mrs.Sangboi who is expecting a baby next month and Mrs Vungliamching, also expecting her first child the same month, told IFP that they were not aware about the government helping delivery through the ASHAs and that they had never been approached by such workers in their locality at Bethel Veng .
It may be recalled here that ASHAs are expected to find out pregnant women in their areas and take them to hospitals for check-ups, beginning from the first three months of pregnancy till the ninth month.
Pregnant women are entitled to get monetary compensation at the tune of Rs, 600 or more depending on the kind of delivery, and the government is to facilitate their transportation while also providing them nutritious food supplements and medicines at subsidised prices and avail free pregnancy related tests.
Other women who talked to IFP informed that they would very much want to avail the benefits of the schemes but were helpless as they were not even aware there were ASHAs in their area while also admitting that came to know about the scheme only after being asked by this IFP correspondent.
Talking to IFP, DFWO Churachandpur Dr VC Pau Tonsing said that there were more than 627 ASHAs in Churachandpur and admitted that the majority of them were not doing a good job, which was due to political interference. He also added that the main problem was also due to the absence of ASHAs from the area of operation, and proxy deployment of untrained ASHAs in some areas.
He also stressed on the problem of opening a bank account that was the norm for any expectant mother, because when it comes to people in the villages where there is no bank, they have to open an account at Churachandpur town for which they have to spend more than they are entitled to get.
He also informed that in Parbung, Singat and Thanlon areas, the ASHAs were doing their jobs well while expressing his reservations on some other areas.
A first-hand study on the performance of ASHAs at Khominthang and Hebron veng etc of Churachnadpur has revealed that they have been very negligent in discharging their duties. Some people informed that many ASHAs were unhappy about certain things like their working hours, salary etc but that didn`t compensate for the hardships that the people in general and the poor expectant mothers in particular have to endure on account of their dereliction of duty.
Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2015/02/negligence-by-ashas-a-big-concern-in-churachandpur/