Success-Stories-on-Health-Sector

ASHA Soft has been successful in streamlining payment of
ASHA incentives (47000 ASHA Sahyoginis)
ProbleM stateMent
Complex fund flows for ASHA payment from multiple budget
heads leading to delays and lack of transparency in payments.
PrograMMe DescriPtion
ASHA Soft is web-based software launched on December 26th
2014 in the State with key objectives of ensuring timely and
transparent online payment to ASHAs and to improve the system of
monitoring. ASHA Soft was developed by the State health Mission
in collaboration with National Informatics Center, Rajasthan
State Unit. It has been implemented across all 38 districts except
urban areas where required infrastructure for data entry is not
available.
The ASHA fills in the Monthly Claim Form for submission to
the ANM on the 26th of every month. The ANM is expected to
verify the claim forms and submit to the PHC level. Here, the
PHC ASHA supervisor undertakes verification and entry of data.
Then the payment is sanctioned by the PHC MOIC with assistance
of Accountant/LHV by the 4th of every month. Final sanction of
payment requires the digital signature of the CM&HO by the 7th
of every month. The Payment is then transferred into the ASHA’s
Bank Account directly from State headquarters, where a separate
account has been opened for ASHA incentives. After release of
payments a SMS alert is sent to ASHAs regarding the transfer of
payment.
ASHA Soft also captures beneficiary wise details of services given by
ASHA to the community and generates various reports to monitor
the progress of the program.
PrograMMe outcoMes
ASHA soft has led to fixed day payment of ASHA incentives,
reducing delays and establishing transparency in the payment
process. It has also improved entry of beneficiaries in PCTS
as both data bases are interlinked for payment verification.
This software has also enabled programme managers to
capture the performance of ASHAs based on incentives earned
for a range of activities and maintain detailed data base of
ASHAs.
iMPleMenting Partners
NIC Rajasthan, National Health Mission, Rajasthan and Bank of
Baroda.
financial investMent
No additional cost was involved in designing and
implementing ASHA Soft.
scalability
Streamlining of payments in Rajasthan
through ASHA Soft with no additional HR
and financial investments highlights the
potential of scale up in other States where
adequate HR for data entry is available at
PHC level.
conclusions/lessons learnt
Initial findings indicate that ASHA Soft has
been successful in streamlining payment of
ASHA incentives and generating interest
among programme managers at all levels in
monitoring the ASHA programme. A major
objective of achieving transparency in ASHA
payments has been achieved. Some hurdles
that have been identified include shortages of
human resources for data entry and the skills
to effectively use such reports. ASHA Soft data
could also be used to generate reports to improve
programme functionality but this potential of
the software is yet to be fully developed and
utilized.
reference
ASHA Soft results - http://ashasoft.raj.nic.in/
Contact
State Demographer, Consultant ASHA, NHM
31