Union Cabinet approves increase charges for ASHA Facilitators

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 24, 2018, approved the increase in supervisory visit charges for ASHA Facilitators from Rs 250 per visit to Rs 300 per visit for 2018-2019 to 2019- 2020 with effect from October 2018 (to be paid in November, 2018). ASHA Facilitator will undertake about 20 supervisory visits per month.

As part of support mechanism, an ASHA facilitator is in place for 10 to 25 ASHAs to provide handholding and mentoring support, and monitor performance. She is a critical link of the support structure network. The ASHA Facilitators are generally selected from amongst the ASHAs themselves. This position also serves as a career opportunity for ASHAs with the requisite qualifications, experience and aptitude.

With the proposed increase, ASHA Facilitators would receive about Rs 6,000 per month against Rs 5,000 per month, an increase of Rs 1,000 per month. To motivate ASHA facilitators to perform better, their supervisory visit charges has been increased from Rs 250 per visit to Rs 300 per visit. It will benefit 41,405  ASHA facilitators.

The existing institutional mechanisms for the National Health Mission (NHM) would be utilised to implement the decision. The proposal entails an estimated additional expenditure of Rs 46.95 crore including Rs 15.65 crore during 2018-19 (for six months) and Rs 31.30 crore during 2019-20 as central share, according to a PIB release.