Pune: It was a memorable day for ‘ASHA’ workers recently, when 200 ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) were felicitated for their exceptional work by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). One of them, Lata Hole, who was recently given the ‘Adarsh ASHA’ award out of these 200 ASHA workers in the city, said that seeing change in people gave work satisfaction. Along with her, 20 such ASHA workers received an award for exceptional work by the PMC.
While speaking to Sakal Times, Hole said that she had been working as a ASHA worker under Annasaheb Magar Hospital which is a Primary Healthcare Centre in Hadapsar.
Lata Tai, as she is fondly called by those she works with, has been working as an ASHA worker for past two years. “I have been working as a ASHA worker for past two years and as a Community Health Worker with an NGO called Institute of Health Management Pachod (IHMP) which works with unmarried adolescent girls and young married women from the slums of Hadapsar since 2015,” she said.
During the programme, various ASHA workers noted that the reason for their motivation to work as an ASHA worker is that they could see the change among people.
Hole also echoed similar sentiments and said, “The satisfaction of witnessing change is the biggest factor that instigated my decision to work for the health of the vasti. We could see the change in the people with every passing month. Even though there was some resistance in the beginning, people now approach us on their own for any health related queries,” said Hole.
The awards were presented in the presence of Dr Ketaki Ghatge from PMC and others.
Speaking to Sakal Times, Dr Ghatge, Nodal officer, National Urban Health Mission, PMC, said that the contributions of ASHA workers to the community health is exceptional.
“The ASHA workers are in touch with the local community. They take various government schemes further like National Health Mission (NHM), adolescent health issues and various schemes for pregnant women. They regularly keep in touch with all stakeholders and involve very actively for nutritional and immunisational support,” said Ghatge.