CHENNAI: Over 1,000 women health volunteers working under ‘Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam’ – a flagship scheme of the health Department – staged a one-day protest seeking fixed working hours, apart from other demands, on Wednesday.
They said, though their working time is officially two hours, they are forced to work the whole day and are even called for duty at PHCs. They demanded that the salary be raised to Rs 15,000 from Rs 5,500 now by allocating funds through the National Health Mission.
“The Rs 5,500 is not sufficient as we have to meet travel expenses. Some women health volunteers in rural areas have to even travel to villages by foot as they cannot afford transport daily,” they said.
The volunteers added that initially they were told to just check BP and blood sugar of people during door-to-door visits, but now they have to shoulder more work including outpatient unit duty and do data entry work in all cases. Chief Minister MK Stalin launched the scheme in August, 2021, in Krishnagiri district to deliver healthcare services at the doorstep of people who cannot travel to hospitals every month.