The repercussions of professional and economic issues within the medical community in Iran continue to persist. Following extensive emigration within this profession, the suicide rate in the medical community has now increased fivefold, resulting in at least 13 suicides leading to death among the resident population in Iran annually.
According to the regime’s Khabaronline website, quoting Nima Shahriarpoor, an emergency medicine specialist at Baharloo Hospital, “The high volume of work, numerous responsibilities, low salary, and lack of job security are factors that discourage a resident from continuing their activities and make them feel disheartened.”
According to Shahriarpoor, suicides among residents have now become more of a “crisis,” and on average, 13 suicides leading to death occur annually among the 14,000-resident population in the country.
Referring to a study conducted by the Medical Association of the University of Tehran, this emergency medicine specialist stated that, according to this study, in a community of 204 residents, more than 93 percent of them, or 188 individuals, experienced “burnout” or occupational fatigue and entertained thoughts of suicide.
The economic and social conditions of the healthcare workforce in Iran are such that according to the statistics of the “Migration Observatory,” 74 percent of doctors and nurses had the intention to migrate from the country until the summer of 2022.
In this regard, statistics indicate that 4,000 physicians have migrated from Iran in the past year.
The migration wave of healthcare professionals in Iran has also attracted the attention of international organizations. According to the latest report of the World Health Organization, despite having 8,000 Iranian surgeons in the United States, Iran ranks seventh in terms of physicians with different nationalities as a destination.
Critics believe that instead of addressing the professional and economic issues within the healthcare workforce to reduce suicide rates and emigration, the government is taking provocative actions. According to many activists in this field, it seems that the government deliberately seeks to provoke the current healthcare workforce and empty universities of those interested in this field.
Critics refer to a new directive issued by the government, according to which the Ministry of Health, on January 14, conditioned the continuation of education on the provision of a deposit to prevent the emigration of residents. Consequently, some individuals were prevented from pursuing their education due to the lack of a deposit. This means that the regime is effectively taking the medical workers as hostages and forcing them to pledge to work under harsh conditions for a long time.
Based on this, the media reported that the candidates accepted in the nationwide examination of 2023 are required to deposit property-based bonds.
This is happening while on January 15, Ali Jafarian, the former president of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, announced in an interview the continued trend of the migration wave of medical and healthcare professionals from Iran to other countries and stated that one of the consequences of this trend was the vacancy of “800 positions” in this year’s residency examination.
Low income, high expenses and inflation, existing social inequalities, the need for professional advancement, lack or shortage of welfare facilities, lack of job security and safety and various social and political restrictions are among the motivating factors for physicians to consider suicide and emigration.
