Bonus money! Additional incentive from Modi government for these workers undertaking COVID 19 related activities

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare led by Modi government has provisioned additional incentive of Rs. 1000 per month under the “India COVID 19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Package” to ASHAs for undertaking COVID 19 related activities for the period of their engagement in this work.

Further the benefit under “Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package : Insurance Scheme for Health Workers Fighting COVID 19”, has been launched  to provide an insurance cover of Rs. 50 lakh to public health providers including ASHAs, who may be at risk of being impacted by COVID 19.

"Public Health and Hospitals is a State subject,  as such responsibility for timely payment of incentive to ASHAs lies with the respective States/UTs. However, The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, requests the States/UTs  time and again, to ensure that  incentives  are paid to ASHAs without any delay," Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the Minister of State (Health and Family Welfare), Ashwini Kumar Choubey stated in a written reply in the Lok Sabha that under Ayushman Bharat -Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PMJAY), as of 21.09.2020, over 1.26 Crore hospital admission have been authorised since its inception. Out of these 5.13 lakh hospital admissions have been authorized towards testing and treatment of COVID-19.

Moreover,  Choubey added, "The funds under AB-PMJAY are allocated on PAN India basis and are released to the State/UT based on the receipt of proposal after due compliance and furnishing of requisite information."

The budget allocated for implementation of AB-PMJAY for the financial years 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 has been Rs. 2400 Crore, Rs. 6400 Crore and Rs. 6400 Crore respectively.