It has been a month since the protests by nurses and healthcare workers began. Instead of addressing the nurses’ demands, the Iranian regime has resorted to suppressing them. Labor and professional organizations have now expressed solidarity with the nurses’ protests and strikes.
Although a month has passed since the nationwide protests and strikes by nurses and healthcare workers in various cities across Iran, the wave of protests has not subsided. Human rights and professional organizations have repeatedly warned in the past month about the suppression of the healthcare sector.
Iranian workers and nurses, lacking the freedom to organize and the presence of independent unions, face severe retaliatory measures from the government merely for pursuing their legitimate demands.
One-Month of Nurses’ Protests and Strikes
The nurses’ protests and strikes began on August 2nd in the city of Karaj. On this day, a group of nurses working in Karaj went on strike in protest against their working conditions and the repeated disregard by government officials. The nurses’ protests continued in the following days, spreading to over 20 cities and 50 hospitals and government-run healthcare centers.
Suppression of Protests and Arrest of Nurses
The nurses’ protests and strikes in some cities have been met with confrontations, clashes, and even the arrest of several protesters. As the nurses’ protests expand, so does the level of suppression against them.
The police and plainclothes agents attacked some of the nurses’ gatherings and arrested a number of protesting nurses.
Main Demands of Protesting Nurses
The protesting nurses are demanding the fulfillment of their rights, including wage increases in line with the actual inflation rate, the implementation of the Nursing Services Tariff Law, resolving the issue of mandatory overtime, addressing staff shortages and difficult working conditions, halting layoffs, and the reinstatement of dismissed nurses. However, the government has ignored the demands of the nurses and healthcare workers.
The situation of nurses has been steadily worsening for years, driving more nurses to emigrate.
Fereydoun Moradi, a member of the Supreme Nursing Council, states: “The living conditions of nurses have become unbearable, and 150 to 200 nurses emigrate from the country each month.”
Ali Jafarian, head of the Ministry of Health, Treatment, and Medical Education’s Strategic Council under the Masoud Pezeshkian government, has reported a wave of nurse emigration to Germany, describing the rate of emigration or job abandonment as “horrifying.”
Many of these demands related to livelihood, wages, and welfare are shared by workers, teachers, retirees, and other wage earners.
Protesting retirees in various cities across the country have also supported the nurses’ and healthcare workers’ protests by chanting slogans during their own professional gatherings.
For years, workers and retirees have been holding weekly protests and gatherings to claim their overdue rights. Now, for a month, nurses have joined teachers, retirees, and other segments of society in protesting against the government ministries and institutions despite continuous pressure and repression.
Undoubtedly, it is unrealistic to expect the Iranian regime, which is facing a budget deficit of several trillion rials, to address the issues of the nursing community and healthcare workers. Currently, their demands amount to approximately 75 trillion rials (about 125 million USD). How the government, with an empty treasury, plans to meet these demands is highly questionable, and the likely outcome is further repression.
