They work with no pay but exempted labour contributions in the villages. They are the village health workers who play a vital role in taking care of the health of remote communities. During the National Day celebration yesterday, the 38-year-old Langa from Denchhi Village under Gomdar Gewog was awarded the certificate of appreciation for this year’s best village health worker of Samdrup Jongkhar.
For Langa, this year’s National Day was the most memorable day for him. Among the 75 health workers, he was the only person awarded the best health worker of 2017. The certification of appreciation was signed by the Health Secretary Dr. Ugen Dophu.
Langa has been serving as a health worker in his village for 18 years. His duty is to provide medicines to treat headache, fever, wounds and stomach ache.
“Those who suffer from serious illness, I refer them to the hospital. In a year, I provide health services to over 500 people,” said Langa, adding that he advise expectant mothers to compulsory visit hospital for delivery.
Local residents in remote villages in Samdrup Jongkhar said, village health workers have helped in times of medical complications.
“We get health treatment without visit BHUs which are located in far flung areas. So they are really helpful for us when we get sick,” said one of the villagers, Tendel Zangpo.
Village health workers were first recruited in villages in 1978. Today, there are over 1000 such health workers in the country.
