Government of Keralam. tightens the standards for extending the contracts of NHM, NAM employees

National Health Mission logo.

The state government has decided to tighten the norms for extending the contracts of employees of the National Health Mission (NHM) and the National Ajuš Mission (NAM).

This could potentially affect the prospects of 17,000 NHM employees and nearly 3,500 employees under NAM.

So far, the government has issued an order dated August 31 extending the contract period of eligible contract workers by another two months, but has made it clear that the extension will not be automatic for all existing workers.

An extension of three months

The new order comes as the three-month extension granted to NHM contract employees from May 30, 2026 ended on August 31. The government had earlier said that further decisions would be taken at an appropriate time.

A Health and Family Welfare Department order dated August 31 said the two-month contract extension will be granted to employees after assessing their performance and considering the demand for their services.

The NHM State Mission Director has been directed to conduct personnel evaluations of employees who meet the eligibility criteria and whose additional services are deemed necessary to meet NHM’s operational requirements. A two-month extension is to be granted based on this assessment and the availability of sanctioned posts and funds.

The same will be the case with NAM employees.

NAM staff contracts were initially extended to 31 March 2027, but this was subsequently set to 31 August 2026 as per government guidelines.

The government has now extended the NAM staff contract by two months to 31 October 2026, again subject to staff performance, functional requirements, workload and sanctioned positions and availability of funds to be assessed by the NAM State Mission Director.

Published – 01 Sep 2026 20:04 IST