Karnataka Health Department revises salaries of doctors and staff nurses under NHM 

Karnataka Health Department raises salaries for new NHM recruits to attract more qualified doctors and nurses.

Following approval from the Centre, Karnataka’s Health Department has now made an upward revision in the salaries of doctors and staff nurses, who will be newly recruited under the National Health Mission (NHM).

Announcing the new salary structure at a press conference on Wednesday, Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said that due to comparatively lower salaries, a large number of doctor posts under the NHM have remained vacant despite efforts to initiate recruitment processes.

The unattractive pay scale has led to limited interest from qualified candidates, causing these vacancies to persist over a long period. Currently, of the 1,398 approved positions for MBBS doctors under the NHM for 2024–2025, only 819 have been filled, leaving 579 positions vacant. Of the 899 sanctioned posts of specialist doctor, 305 remain vacant. Similarly, 936 of the 9,041 sanctioned posts of staff nurse are yet to be filled.

“Following a detailed proposal submitted by the State government, approval has been granted under the NHM Supplementary Record of Proceedings (RoP) 2024–2026 for the revised pay structure,” he said.

Giving details of the revised pay scale, the Minister said the monthly salary of MBBS doctors has been raised to ₹60,000, up from the earlier range of ₹46,895 to ₹50,000. Major clinical specialists (OBG, paediatrics, anaesthesia, general medicine, orthopaedics, surgery, and ophthalmology) will now receive ₹1,40,000, an increase from the previous range of ₹1,10,000 to ₹1,30,000. The salary of staff nurses has been revised to ₹22,000, from the earlier range of ₹14,186 to ₹18,774, the Minister said.

“In the case of experienced candidates, an additional 2.5% increment per year of relevant experience will be provided at the time of appointment,” the Minister said.

Pointing out that the revised salary structure will apply only to newly recruited personnel, Mr. Rao said existing staff would continue to receive their current salaries.