The Meghalaya government has released Rs 53 crore in the financial year 2021-2022 to pay salaries to accredited social health activists (ASHA) workers in the state.

With this all backlogs due till March 2021 have been cleared, an official release here stated.

According to government sources, this is the highest-ever amount that has been released under the National Health Mission (NHM), Meghalaya.

An official statement read, "Due to lack of release of funds in 2018-2019, NHM Meghalaya could not make regular payments to the ASHA workers.”

The state government has sanctioned funds under the Meghalaya ASHA Benefit Scheme (MABS) for clearing backlogs up to March 2021, it said.

"The sanction letter has been forwarded to the deputy commissioners of all the districts, with copies being sent to the district medical and health officers for their information and necessary action,” it said.

Meanwhile, the Meghalaya government with the help of NHM has also introduced a mobile application for facilitating payments to the ASHA workers.

“The application has been developed to ease the payment process and ensure timely disbursement of the same," it added.

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