If Anita Sharma *, an ASHA employee (or Accredited Social Health Activist), had a Twitter account, she could have tagged @drharshvardhan, the health minister, and introduced herself therefore: My name is Anita.
The social media platform may have enhanced her voice and drawn the attention of the movers and shakers.
But that was not suggested to be.
ASHA workers have been checking out 25 homes on an average every day during the pandemic
.|Picture Credit:
REUTERS.
.
Grassroots work
For every health plan launched by the Ministry of Health and Household Well-being, it is females like Anita who step in to execute it at the grassroots level.
At the forefront of India’s health care system, which is now creaking under the weight of the pandemic, are 9 lakh ASHA workers like Anita who are soldiering on– unarmed, vulnerable and improperly paid. Some men ask why they need to listen to a female,” states P.P. Prema, an ASHA employee from Kerala.
In Thrissur, Kerala, an employee reveals her crammed field diary
.|Picture Credit:
Thulasi Kakkat.
.