The government has issued orders hiking the monthly honorarium given to Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) in the State by ₹1,000 with effect from December 2023. All ASHAs in the State will now receive a monthly honorarium of ₹7,000, a statement issued by Health Minister Veena George said here on Friday.
Before 2016, ASHAs used to receive a monthly honorarium of ₹1,000 and the hike in this amount to the current level was effected in a phased manner. At present, 26,125 women are working as ASHAs across all 14 districts, with 21,371 of them serving in rural areas, 4,205 serving in urban areas and 549 ASHAs in tribal areas. All ASHAs will receive the benefit of the current hike, the statement said.
Apart from the fixed monthly honorarium provided by the government, ASHAs will also receive incentives to the tune of ₹2,000 every month from various health schemes implemented by the government. Most ASHAs also typically receive additional incentives ranging from ₹1,500-3,000, depending on the services they provide to the people in the area they serve.
From April 2022, ASHAs are given a telephone allowance of ₹200. Incentives and honorarium are directly remitted to the bank accounts of ASHAs through a designated software.
The concept of ASHAs was introduced in Kerala in 2007, when National Rural Health Mission (present National Health Mission) began to be implemented.
Women chosen as ASHAs are given training in maternal and childcare, primary care, ensuring services through allied institutions, adopting a leadership role in the community during epidemic outbreaks, working with ward-level health and sanitation committees, provision of services to pregnant women and children, activities and promotion of a healthy lifestyle to keep non-communicable diseases under check, palliative care delivery and mental health care services.
