Ethics Awards

A village health nurse with almost 25 years of experience, Pasavanthy provides patient-centred, compassionate care as a member of an interdisciplinary medicine team. She has completed an MA in sociology and multipurpose health worker training from the Directorate of Public Health (DPH). During this time, she has been trained in public health and preventive medicine. She works specifically with the Narikuravar community— the indigenous tribals of Tamilnadu.

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She is a chief community development officer at Khan Bahadur Bhabha Municipal general hospital, Kurla, Mumbai. She is a dynamic social worker and has completed her Master in Social Work (MSW) from Nagpur University in 1993.Though Sanjana is a hospital social worker, her work stretches beyond her hospital. She helped families in the community by distributing ration during lockdown since many people had lost their daily earnings. She has worked above and beyond her roles and responsibilities and her duty hours to help her hospital serve patients in a better way during pandemic. She continued providing response to the survivors of violence through “Dilaasa” —a hospital-based crisis intervention centre, during pandemic when there was no other help available due to lockdown.

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The Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN) has been actively involved in relief work from March 27, 2020 in the form of zonal helplines by connecting workers to organisations and the government for rations. SWAN has interacted with about 34,000 workers across the country. Since many workers have been in dire need of cash for basic essentials, SWAN has solicited financial support from individuals who have directly transferred money to the workers’ accounts. SWAN has transferred more than Rs 60 lakhs in 2020 directly to the workers’ accounts.The initiative started as a handful of volunteers catering to distress calls from stranded workers from groups in Jharkhand and those affiliated with Samaj Parivartan Shakti Sangathan (SPSS), an organisation that works on accessing government programmes in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. Soon, the number of distress calls increased and began pouring in from various other sources.

SWAN evolved a work plan of streamlining these distress calls into different zones (South, Delhi-Haryana, North, West and East Zone) and allocating teams to assess workers’ needs on three fronts — cash support, dry rations/cooked food and travel assistance. SWAN used the intervention data to support advocacy efforts too. SWAN has since launched ’SWAN Fellowship’ from January 2021, and it currently supports eight migrant workers as fellows and provides them with a platform to voice their concerns to a larger audience. It also facilitates as a platform for fellows to engage with each other and learn the necessary media and political education to engage in the larger migrant worker’s discourse.

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She is an ASHA worker and serves the Mannadiyar and Paliyar communities who are the residents of her village with agriculture as vocation. Antenatal mothers have to access general hospital either in Kodaikanal or in Periyakulam and have to move a month earlier for safe institutional delivery. She provides the provision of excellent support to VHNs so that they can mobilize mothers for institutional deliveries and postnatal care. Mrs. Kokila has majorly contributed to the record of zero infant deaths in the last 10 years in Vellakavi village. She has supported full COVID vaccination coverage for her village during the pandemic.

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She is currently a community health worker. She was previously a staff nurse at Hakeem Abdul Hameed Centenary Hospital, Delhi. She had 7 years of experience as nursing staff and secured GNM from Jamia Hamdard University in 2014. She received many prizes in debate and other cultural activity held by Jamia Hamdard University and has participated in disaster workshop as narrator organised by Hamdard public school. She has also volunteered for various projects in St Stephen’s Hospital, Delhi.

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We are Bangalore-based citizen group formed during COVID pandemic. We have helped provide victims of COVID-19 a dignified burial as well as assisted the families of the bereaved in carrying out the same. We helped with getting more volunteers from among friends and immediate family members, and worked with different donors who supported us with funds for lunch for the volunteers on many days. We also helped getting medical supplies such as PPE kits, masks and gloves, from known associates and friends so that the volunteers could work safely. People from different religions, profession and age groups volunteered to serve and help. Volunteers included teachers, pilots, students, doctors, bankers, older members from a few of the leading MNCs in Bangalore including Amazon, Deutsche Bank and Titan. All our services were rendered free of cost and also on a “first-come-first-served” basis. The volunteers also stood in for family and joined in the singing and prayers when the victim had no one to attend their funeral. Our volunteers also worked with donors and friends to get financial assistance and equipments needed for the funeral. This group is still active and available in case of any emergency.

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