BENGALURU: After being left out of the existing incentive system, 15,004 Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers in Karnataka — those working in health sub-centres and urban areas not yet upgraded to Ayushman Arogya Mandirs — will now receive a monthly team-based incentive of Rs 1,000. To make this possible, the Karnataka government approved an additional grant of Rs 1,800.48 lakh.
This move is based on this year’s budget speech, which had earlier mentioned the incentive but without a clear implementation for those outside the Ayushman network. With the new order, the benefit has been officially extended to ASHA workers who were previously excluded due to the lack of Ayushman Arogya Mandir status in their work areas.
The team-based incentive, introduced under the Ayushman Arogya Mandir initiative, encourages better coordination among field-level healthcare staff. Under the scheme - primary health officers and health inspectors will receive an incentive of Rs 1,500 per month while ASHA workers will get Rs 1,000 per month as incentives.
Until this update, only those ASHA workers in areas already functioning as Ayushman Arogya Mandirs were getting the incentive. The latest government order ensures all ASHA workers across the state are now included.
In Karnataka, each ASHA worker is assigned to 1,000 people in rural areas and 2,500 in urban regions. The state has sanctioned 42,524 such posts under the National Health Mission, with nearly 41,000 workers currently active.