By Pooya stone
According to a citizen familiar with hospitals’ conditions in Saqqez, in Kurdistan province, in western Iran, recently 40 nurses and medical staff of Khomeini hospital tested positive of the coronavirus.
“Officials send several COVID-19 patients to home-quarantine without considering their critical condition,” the citizen said.
Following this irresponsible decision, on the night of April 5, a 40-year-old medical staff Mohammad Yar-Ahmadi lost his life. Mr. Yar-Ahmadi was one of the selfless nurses of Saqqez’s Khomeini hospital. Regrettably, he contracted the coronavirus during his services and fell, victim. Notably, there are many reports of a lack of essential health and hygienic items for countering COVID-19.
This manner is true elsewhere as well. On March 24, Kurdistan Media website reported the same function in a hospital of Bukan city in Iran’s Kurdish areas. “In Bukan hospital, the director and a ‘doctor’ have released patients suffering from the coronavirus before ultimate recovery. This issue caused the virus to spread in all of society,” Kurdistan Media wrote.
Also, the secrecy over the emergence of coronavirus in Iran resulted in irreparable consequences. In this respect, Dr. Yousefpour from Saqqez criticized authorities’ non-transparency, saying, “One month ago, I warned about the COVID-19 and because of my warning. I was summoned eight times during the [Nowruz] vacation period. and I have to stand trial because I said the truth.”
Additionally, there are horrible reports obtained from this area. For instance, on March 25, a citizen from Baneh city uploaded a shocking video. He explained, “Here is Baneh. My brother has just died of coronavirus. I urge the noble people to help us. Baneh’s hospital has no facilities, neither gloves, protective gowns, nor face makes. [The hospital] doesn’t even have a sack for transferring corpses. Here is no expert or even a doctor. The clothes of most volunteers are torn, and they have to work with them. Help Baneh.”
On April 4, the state-run Hamshahri newspaper quoted Mohammad Reza Zafar-Ghandi, the head of Iran’s Medical System, as saying, “Until now, close to 170 doctors and nurses have been infected with the COVID-19, and 37 have lost their lives in Qom.” He emphasized, “[The government] didn’t take the entry of the disease into the country seriously… We didn’t naturally reach this amount of [coronavirus] contagion if we adopted severely controlling measures.”
Furthermore, there isn’t good news from other provinces. On March 28, the head of Medical Science University in Golestan province Abdulreza Fazel said, “Overall, around 350 individuals from the medical staff of Golestan province are infected with severe respiratory difficulties and they are suspected of being infected with the coronavirus. Six doctors are in critical condition.”
The government is genuinely crippled to save the lives of medical staff, let alone ordinary people. In this respect, at least 100 doctors, nurses, and medical staff have lost their lives. Iran Focus previously revealed the names and specifications of 48 of these noble people who fell victim to Iranian officials’ inadequacy so far.
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Iran’s Doctors and Nurses Are Victims of the Regime’s Indifference to the Coronavirus
This issue prompted the ire of these selfless persons who struggle in the front line against the coronavirus. On April 5, several nurses of Imam Reza hospital in Mashhad city, northeastern Iran, held a rally in protest to non-standard equipment and face masks that jeopardize their health and lives. Protesting nurses said, “Despite the rapid outbreak of the coronavirus, officials didn’t provide any standard precautionary equipment for them.” According to local sources, given the officials’ indifference and the lack of appropriate equipment and face masks, the stats of infected nurses with the COVID-19 have soared.
