It is incredible but true.These people have to visit several houses daily,doing the job of carrying vaccines from PHC or state dispensaries to health sub centres,distributing medicines to infants,pregnant women,children, sick and elderly people and have to collect various datas too. It is their duty to see whether scheduled vaccination is given regularly to pregnant women and infants.They go out in the morning carrying with their familiar white medicine boxes and return home in the evening after visiting two or three villages with a population of more than a thousand. In return,believe it or not,they are paid a trival paultry lump sum salary of Rs.50 per month.They are none other than female attendants of Assam (health guides)serving under the Health and Family Welfare Department. But the department is headed by none other than the most powerful Health Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma himself.The Hon'ble Guwahati High Court had passed an order in 2002,directing the state government to raise their salary from Rs.50 to a minimum of Rs.900 PM along with the arear amount since their joining. But the state government has not yet taken any step to implement the High Courts order.So much developmental works have been done in the field of health care in Assam,crores of rupees have been spent,but the salary of the female health guides of Assam remained the same.May be the state government wants a world record,who knows!
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