(Asian Independent)
Dear all,
We, the ASHA Workers of India, urge you all to lend your solidarity and support to our movement for recognition, safety and dignified wages. As you know, we form the backbone of this country’s public health system and yet we are treated worse than slaves. We have been protesting over many years in several states but our victories are not big enough to make any significant difference.
We are about 900,000 women who have been risking our lives to keep the country in good health. To ensure rights to us ASHA Workers is akin to ensuring good health to citizens, particularly to the most vulnerable ones who rely on public health systems.
We are an all women workforce and most of us are also from socially and economically marginalized communities. This is perhaps why the state and central governments dare to ignore our legitimate demands.
So, we urge you to support us. We have written an Open Letter to the PM and the Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare. Please endorse it, if you agree with our demands. Please circulate this widely to other networks.
We have very little direct access to all of you and so have requested Stalin K and his colleagues at Video Volunteers, Teesta Setalvad and her colleagues at Citizens for Justice & Peace; Dr Abhay Shukla and his colleagues at Jan Swasthya Abhiyan and the Action North East Trust to carry this message to you.
Here is the link to the Open Letter. Please click, read and endorse.
Sincerely,
Laxmi Kaurav, Asha Supervisor, Madhya Pradesh
Rohini Pawar, Asha Worker, Maharashtra
Halima Ejaz, Asha Supervisor, Jharkhand
and 3000 other Asha Workers from 25 states
