'ASHA workers are backbone of primary health care services'

Hailakandi, April 2: The 3rd ASHA convention was held in a befitting manner in Hailakandi town recently. Iugurating the convention at zrul Sadan auditorium, Deputy Commissioner of Hailakandi Adil Khan appreciated the role of the ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) workers in providing basic public health care delivery in remote and far-flung areas of the district. Terming the workers as the backbone of the primary health care services, Khan said they have been working selflessly and relentlessly to build a healthier society. “The ASHA workers are the ones who work day in and day out to provide health care facilities in rural areas of the district,” he added.

The Deputy Commissioner appealed to the ASHA workers to pitch in their efforts for making the upcoming Measles Rubella campaign in the district successful. Khan said the district is far behind the tiol average in so far as Infant Mortality Rate and Materl Mortality Rate are concerned and required suitable intervention strategies to improve upon the key health indicators. 

Speaking on the occasion, Joint Director, Health Services, Dr. Avijit Basu said the ASHA workers are the lifelines of the primary health care service and they are the very important contributors in the first level of health care delivery. Dr. Basu further said that the ASHA workers work as an interface between the community and the public health system in rural areas. Dr. Basu said the district has presently a fleet of seven numbers of Mrityunjoy 108 ambulances and its strength would go up further to eight very soon. 

Speakers one after another lauded the long list of duties the ASHA workers perform ranging from providing information to people in rural areas about health, sanitation and nutrition to ante-tal and post-tal checkups and from facilitating institutiol delivery to administering polio vaccines and conducting health surveys. ASHA workers also rrated how they take pride in maging to get their communities talking about health and hygiene, which they earlier did not care much for.  

12 ASHA workers from four BPHCs were felicitated by the Deputy Commissioner and other dignitaries on the occasion. Altogether 715 ASHA workers and supervisors from Algapur, Lala, Katlicherra, Kaligar and urban units turned up at the convention. Prominent among those who attended the convention were vice president of district BJP, Hirok Jyoti Chakraborty, State UNICEF consultant, Dr. Pankaj Sudha and DPM, Maruf Alom Borbhuiya.  Stalls were also put up for dissemiting information on various health care schemes and highlighting activities under the tiol Health Mission.