Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to provide six months of paid maternity leave to around 5,000 women working as Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) or Community Health Volunteers (CHVs), a benefit they currently do not receive.BMC would be the first civic body in Maharashtra to approve of the long-standing demand of ASHAs, trained female community health volunteers.This is being considered as the civic administration wants to prevent women from dropping out of its frontline health workforce after childbirth.Additional municipal commissioner Prajakta Verma Lavangare said the proposal is being considered not only as a benefit but also as a way of retaining trained women workers and ensuring continuity in the civic health system.“The administration wants women to be able to take time off after childbirth and return to the same job once their leave is over, rather than being forced to leave the workforce altogether,” she said.An ASHA’s salary is tied to the various tasks she performs in a month, with her take-home ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 17,000 in BMC areas. Her package is jointly provided by the Centre and state govts.As the maternity benefit proposal is still in the early stages, civic officials are still working out how much money the ASHA will be given during her maternity leave.Raju Desle of a union that represents ASHAs across Maharashtra said, “ASHAs handhold pregnant women across the country, but they are left without any benefits after childbirth. If BMC provides maternity benefits to ASHAs, it would be the first time in the state, and perhaps the entire country, that it’s being provided,” said Desle. However, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Punjab provide some maternity benefits to ASHAs.BMC idea of providing maternity benefits stems from the idea of ensuring continuity of services for people. While another health worker will take up the responsibility till the time the CHV concerned is back, the idea is for her to take over from where she left off, said Lavangare.The administration is also looking at the broader working conditions of its contractual and community-based health workforce, including remuneration, recruitment, induction and capacity building.ASHAs and CHVs form an important link between BMC’s health facilities and communities, particularly in areas where access to formal healthcare can be difficult. BMC’s health-post network uses CHVs and ASHAs for community-level outreach, with their work including health awareness, immunisation-related activities, maternal and child health follow-up and connecting residents with health services. CHVs have historically been part-time women health workers recruited from local communities. Their local presence allows them to understand the needs of residents and act as a link between doctors and nurses at health posts and the communities they serve.Lavangare said that the proposal is yet to be formally approved, and details such as the eligibility criteria and the mechanism for retaining a worker’s position during leave are yet to be finalised.
