Mohammad Mirkhani, a social consultant of the Medical Council Organization, considered the difficult working conditions of physicians in Iran as one of the reasons for the significant increase in the suicide rate among this group.
Mirkhani said, “At one time, the medical field was very popular and had a good financial position, but unfortunately, financial problems have increased in recent decades. Physicians usually become more sensitive in family and emotional matters due to work conditions and frequent awakenings severely affect the individual.”
He described the working environment of physicians in hospitals as “barracks” and added that these conditions are especially harder for medical interns.
According to Mirkhani, medical residents “sometimes cannot sleep for 72 hours, and these conditions are extremely dangerous. Usually, these conditions make them depressed.”
He referred to the decline in the status of physicians in society and harsh treatment by patients and their companions towards physicians, saying that the security of this group has decreased in the work environment.
In recent days, following the news of the suicide of Samira Al-e-Saeedi, a rheumatology lecturer and member of the Rheumatology Research Center at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, the danger signal about the lack of mental security among members of the medical staff sounded again.
In response to the self-inflicted death of Al-e-Saeedi, physician Mohammad Abdous wrote on the X social network: “Physicians are more exposed to work-related tensions and stresses than other segments of society.”
Abdous added that Al-e-Saeedi had intended to discuss this matter with her colleagues the day before her suicide, but they did not take the issue seriously.
In January, Nima Shahriarpoor, an emergency medicine specialist, announced that, according to conducted research, the suicide rate among members of the medical community has increased 3.1-5 times.
He added, for example, from among 14,000 medical residents in the country, an average of 13 people commit suicide annually.
In mid-March, the suicide of Parastoo Bakhshi, a specialist heart surgeon, led to many reactions. She, who was only 35 years old at the time of her death, ended her life by taking medication.
Hadi Yazdani, a media activist in the medical field, on March 31, called the events leading to the suicide of this physician an example of “systematic injustice and humiliation” of members of the medical staff at the Ministry of Health.
