Hyderabad: ASHA workers protest demanding postponement of exam on Dec 29

Demanding postponement of computer based test to recruit 1900 posts of Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANMs)/ Multipurpose Health Care Assistants (MPHA), which is scheduled to be held on December 29, ASHA workers from across the State on Tuesday participated in a dharna at DME office in Koti, Hyderabad.

Hyderabad: Demanding postponement of computer based test to recruit 1900 posts of Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANMs)/ Multipurpose Health Care Assistants (MPHA), which is scheduled to be held on December 29, ASHA workers from across the State on Tuesday participated in a dharna at DME office in Koti, Hyderabad.

Under the umbrella of Telangana Vaidya Arogya Udyoga Sanghalu Porata Samithi, the outsourcing/contract Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) workers maintained that they would continue to protest till the State government makes an honest attempt at addressing them.

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“For the past 20 years, a large number of ASHA workers have been discharging their duties at various capacities in the health department. Today, there are nearly 700 ASHA workers who are aged more than 55 years and nearing retirement. To do justice to such ASHA workers, a three-member committee was established. However, even before the committee could submit its recommendations, the State government decided to conduct this examination, which is not acceptable to us,” the protesting ASHA workers said.

Services of such ASHA workers, who have been working since two-decades on contract/outsourcing basis, must be regularized unconditionally. More sub-centres must be established in newly established districts, which will create more posts for ASHA workers. There is a scope for adding at least 2, 000 to 3, 000 additional sub-centres across the State and recruit as many ASHA workers,” they said.