The Kerala government, on July 5, decided to increase the remuneration of the National Health Mission (NHM) employees both on contract and on a daily basis in addition to incentives and risk allowances.
As the remuneration of NHM employees involved in COVID-19 work is limited, those on contract and those employed on a daily basis will be provided additional benefits. Incentives and risk allowances have also been introduced.
The minimum wage for Grade-I, which includes medical officers and specialists will be raised from Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 per month with a risk allowance of 20 per cent.
Grade-II consists of senior consultants, dental surgeons and Ayush Doctors who will be given a 20 per cent risk allowance. For Grade-III employees, which includes staff nurses, junior health inspectors, pharmacists and technicians, wages will be increased from Rs 13,500 to Rs 20,000 along with a 25 per cent risk allowance.
The employees in the last grade will be given a 30 per cent risk allowance in addition to their daily wages.
Furthermore, the incentives and risk allowances will also be given to all newly-hired employees engaged in the virus-related work.
The state cabinet also announced a financial assistance package for non-resident Keralities who are unable to go back to their place of work abroad, and are stranded in the state since the lockdown.
The cabinet decided to allot Rs 50 crore from the Chief Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund (CMDRF) to the Non-Resident Keralites Affairs (NORKA) to provide support of Rs 5,000 to each of the expatriates.
Earlier, the government had provided financial assistance of Rs 8.5 crore.
