After the approval of the Karnataka Health Department, the Karnataka Health Department has now conducted an ascending revision in the salaries of doctors and nurses who will be newly accepted as part of the National Health Mission (NHM).
Minister of Health Dinesh Gundu Rao, who announced a new salary structure at a press conference, said that due to relatively lower salaries, a large number of medical contributions remained under NHM despite the efforts to start recruiting processes.
The unattractive pay scale has led to a limited interest of qualified candidates, which caused these vacancies to persist for a long time. Currently, out of 1,398 approved positions for MBBS doctors under NHM for 2024–2025, only 819 were filled in, so 579 positions are unoccupied. Of the 899 sanctioned functions of a specialized physician, 305 remain unoccupied. Similarly, 936 out of 9,041 sanctioning functions of employees’ sister must be completed.
“After a detailed proposal submitted by the State Government, the approval was granted as part of the NHM supplementary record (ROP) 2024–2026 for the revised salary structure,” he said.
The details of the revised salary scale stated that the Minister stated that the monthly salary of MBBS doctors was increased to 60,000 GBP, from an earlier range of 46,895 ₹ to 50,000 ₹. The main clinical specialists (OBG, pediatrics, anesthesia, general medicine, orthopedics, surgery and ophthalmology) will now receive 1,40,000 GBP, an increase from the previous range of 1,10,000 to 1,30,000 GBP. The salary of employees nurses was revised at 22 000 GBP, from an earlier range of 14 186 GBP to 18 774 GBP, the minister said.
“In the case of experienced candidates, another 2.5% increment per year will be provided at the time of appointment,” said the Minister.
Only for new recruits
He stressed that the revised salary structure will only apply to the newly accepted staff, Mr. Rao said that existing employees will continue to receive their current salaries.
“We cannot revise the salaries of existing employees because they are already receiving an annual addition of 5%. However, they may decide to resign and reuse in a new recruitment process. During this process, it will be preferred (weighing two stamps granted for a year of service) based on their experience,” he said.
He said there was no warranty that they would certainly be named because recruitment is purely worthwhile. “A larger group of qualified doctors is expected to attract a salary revision within NHM, which will improve services related to the health of mothers and children, surgery and care and outpatient.
Delayed salaries
Mr. Rao said that clarification of the delay in the payment of two -month salaries for existing employees was due to a delay in the payment of funds from the center.
“This is a regular phenomenon every year at the beginning of the new fiscal year. However, we managed them by paying them from the remaining fund initial balance. This year we spent more than 95% of NHM allocation and there are no balanced funds,” he added.
Published – May 14, 2025 20:27