Evaz Heydarpour, a physician and former member of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament), stated that every day we hear about “a professor or associate professor of medical schools” migrating. He told the regime’s “Khabar Online” website: “Every year, 10,000 individuals from the Iranian medical workforce (physicians, nurses, midwives) migrate.”
He declared that the “best geriatric specialists” are leaving the country due to the wave of migrating doctors. Heydarpour added, “If I were the Minister of Health and witnessed this number of doctors migrating every day, I would resign.”
An advisor to the Minister of Health and Medical Education of the Iranian regime, citing the “Youth, Population, and Family Support Law,” announced that the country’s healthcare system is facing a shortage of 20,000 midwives.
Shahla Khosravi, an advisor to the Minister of Health and Medical Education of the Iranian regime, stated on September 10 to the semiofficial ISNA news agency that the treatment sector requires “12,000 midwives,” and the health sector also needs “8,000 midwives.”
Reza Laripour, the spokesperson for the regime’s Medical Council, had previously stated on September 3 that the “migration of the medical community” had doubled compared to the years before the coronavirus pandemic, and now Iran sends doctors to five continents.
The increase in the migration trend of Iranian healthcare professionals is due to dissatisfaction with the current situation and the disorder in the country’s affairs. During recent years, they have faced intensified confrontation by security and military institutions due to their declarations of opposition, expression of protest, or treatment of injured protesters. Some have also been killed by the Iranian regime’s repressive forces.
Professional and economic pressures on nurses in Iran continue, and the latest report from the semiofficial ILNA news agency highlights the issue of low rates of “mandatory overtime.” According to the report, nurses are required to work 130 hours of overtime for a payment of 19 million rials (approximately $37.25).
The news agency quotes members of the “Nurse House” who state that “nurses work overtime every month according to their duty hours, but the amount they receive is very insignificant.”
Based on an “overtime work deposit” text message, a nurse mentioned in the ILNA report that after several months of delay, the February overtime payment was 19 million rials for 130 hours.
The situation of nurses’ rights and wages has been one of the challenging issues since the beginning of the year. On April 16, the state-run Etemad newspaper quoted a nurse who said that for every 197 duty hours and 155 overtime hours in a month, they received approximately 18 million rials (approximately $35.29) as the nursing service fee.
In March, the continuation of discriminatory and “illegal” payments to Iranian nurses led to protests. Nurses in various provinces held protest gatherings.
In this regard, the Free Workers’ Union of Iran reported on April 17 that nurses in five provinces gathered in protest against the “government’s violation of nursing fees” and chanted slogans calling for the resignation of the “incompetent minister.”
The dire conditions for nurses and the failure to meet their minimum demands ultimately led to the President of the Iranian Nursing Organization mentioning on September 18 that the necessary “attraction and retention” conditions for nurses in the country were not being met and that “five to six Iranian nurses” are migrating daily.
Mohammad Mirzabeygi, speaking about the migration of nurses to the ILNA news agency, stated that between “100 to 150 nurses” migrate abroad monthly, which is a matter of concern for the country.
