According to officials from the Iranian Nursing Organization, Nearly 9,000 Iranian nurses migrate or retire annually.
In a meeting of the Supreme Nursing Council on March 3, Mohammad Taghi Jahanpour, the head of the Nursing Organization, issued a warning about the state of nursing in Iran, citing the migration of over 2,700 nurses and the retirement of 6,000 nurses annually.
As reported by the news agency affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, Tasnim, Jahanpour referred to this phenomenon as a “serious alarm for the healthcare system.”
Ghasem Abutalebi, the Deputy the Supreme Nursing Council, also stated during the meeting that 6,000 nurses retire in the country each year, emphasizing the urgent need to recruit at least one hundred thousand nursing staff.
Former head of the Nursing Organization, Mohammad Mirzabeygi, had previously announced on December 22, 2023, that “over ten thousand of the most skilled nurses” in Iran have emigrated.
Mirzabeygi attributed the nurses’ migration to the “behavior of officials” and called for the implementation of special payments, hiring of planned personnel, extension of coronavirus-related plans, and the legal and proper implementation of nursing tariff laws as part of the “Seventh Development Plan.”
Abutalebi identified “livelihood problems” and “lack of employment” as factors contributing to the migration of some nurses. He mentioned that the failure to provide satisfactory services to nurses leads to a “decline in the quality of nursing care and an increase in patient mortality.”
In recent years, nurses have staged protests demanding attention to their demands.
Many regime officials and stakeholders in the healthcare sector have warned about the widespread wave of nurse migration, expressing dissatisfaction with the insufficient and inadequate replacement of nursing staff.
The head of the Iranian Nursing Organization had previously cautioned that “five to six nurses leave the country daily, and between 100 to 150 nurses migrate monthly.”
Mohammad Sharifi-Moghaddam, the Secretary-General of the Nurses’ House, also stated on November 12, 2023, that “over three thousand nurses” leave the country annually, emphasizing the severity of the nursing shortage, which results in patients losing their lives.
