SHILLONG, Oct 9: The state government’s technological intervention for the ease of doing business is making life easier for the Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) through the ASHA payment app, officials said.
More than 6,900 ASHAs have benefitted from the app.
Data provided by the government revealed the registration of 6,915 of the 7.067 ASHAs on the app has been approved and a total of Rs 9.13 crore has been disbursed so far.
The payment of task-based incentives to the ASHAs used to be delayed often. This prompted the development of the app.
After releasing about Rs 80 crore of pending payments, the Health department set a mandate to ensure timely payments without any delay to every ASHA.
“I have just raised my claim for this month on my phone,” Happy Mawkdoh, an ASHA under the Mawroh PHC, said.
The payment through the app is made within five days of raising a claim, she said.
“Prior to this initiative, the ASHAs had to wait for months to avail of their incentives. Delay in payments in the past often led to unrest,” she recalled.
According to the Mission Director of the National Health Mission, Ramkumar S, the old system was tedious, time-consuming and complicated, which led to delays in payments.
The app has reduced the time of processing payments from 120-150 days to 5-7 working days, he said.
Judis Shadap, a 47-year-old ASHA from Mowtyrshiah village in West Jaintia Hills district recalled the “long wait” for payment after submitting her claim to the local ASHA facilitator in the recent past.
“I am still not familiar with raising payment through my phone. I still record all my tasks in a register and my daughter helps me raise claims in the app,” she said.
Piulish R Marak, the district community process coordinator under NHM, Tura, said the ASHAs have been raising their incentive claims through the app despite poor internet connectivity. “They are realising the app offers several advantages for the end-users. It has also made them more aware of their payment eligibility and reasons for their payment ineligibility,” he said.
Currently, the payment to the ASHAs is done at the PHC level by consolidating the entitled incentives under different health programmes of the NHM. The total amount is paid within the 30th of every month.
