BHOPAL: Asha workers are upset over the treatment they are getting during their field visits. At some places villagers do not allow them to enter their area while at other places they abuse and ill treat the Asha workers when they ask the villagers to get vaccinated.
Irritated over the treatment they faced, the MP Asha Usha Sahyogini Karyakarta Sanghthan has demanded that FIR (First Information Report) should be filed in such cases to deter the antisocial elements.
Several videos of people abusing and ill-treating Asha workers have gone viral on various social media platforms. A team of Asha and other health workers were chased away from Niaoni village in Chanderi district.
In another incident, Asha workers were ill-treated and threatened in a village near Khawasa in Seoni district. Similar reports have also arrived from villages near Phanda in Bhopal and several other parts of the state.
ìWe are putting our lives at risk to save otherís life. But there are some misguided elements who disrupt us while conducting our duty,î said Vibha Shrivastava, Asha Workers Association state president.
Incidents of misbehaving with public health workers have increased recently. Therefore we have urged the state government to lodge FIR in such cases so that it acts as deterrent for others, she added.
Another Asha worker from Bundelkhand, wishing anonymity said that the problem in their region was grave. ìPeople do not cooperate at all. They got scared after some beneficiaries had fever after vaccination. They say that they were fine but got fever because of the vaccine and they donít want to risk their lives,î said the Asha worker from Sagar district.
ìWe are stuck between the devil and the deep sea. We are ill-treated when we go on the field and nothing is done when we give the feedback at our office,î said the state president of Asha Worker Association.
