Three nurses in Iran have lost their lives due to “excessive work” in the span of one month, the Secretary-General of the Nursing Home announced their deaths due to “overwork syndrome,” known as “death due to excessive work.”
Mohammad Sharifi Moghaddam told the regime’s Etemad newspaper on Sunday, May 12, that unfavorable conditions in Iranian hospitals have left nurses “tired, unmotivated, and exhausted.”
Iranian nurses protest against the shortage of staff and the subsequent heavy workload, lack of job security, and low wages that disrupt their work-life balance.
According to the Secretary-General of the Nursing Home, most nurses in Iran, especially male nurses, are forced to work evening shifts in addition to their daily shifts because one shift doesn’t cover their living expenses, leading to excessive fatigue.
Recent reports have also highlighted an increase in suicide among nurses in Iran, attributed to the increasing pressure in the workplace.
The exact number of nurse suicides in Iran is officially unknown, but the rising trend is concerning.
According to the World Health Organization’s standard, there should be a minimum of three nurses and on average, five to six nurses, per thousand population. However, according to the WHO’s report in 2018, there were only 1.6 nurses per thousand active population in Iran. In fact, the number of nurses in Iran is equivalent to half of the minimum set by the WHO.
Sharifi Moghaddam had announced in November 2023 that the annual migration of nurses had reached 3,000, and patients were dying in hospitals due to the lack of nurses.
The Iranian Nursing Home official also stated on Sunday that he had been summoned to provide evidence for this claim, but he said, “Do we need to show evidence for daylight?”
According to Sharifi Moghaddam, nurses leaving Iran have various motivations, but the most significant one is financial issues, and those leaving Iran for financial reasons usually do not return.
One of the significant factors contributing to the migration of physicians and nurses from Iran is the considerable disparity in income and living standards between Iran and destination countries.
According to the World Health Organization report, the average annual income of a physician in Iran in 2019 was around $10,000, which is much lower compared to the average annual income of a physician in the United States, approximately $294,000, in the United Kingdom, around $136,000, in Canada, about $258,000, in Australia, around $207,000, and in Germany, approximately $111,000.
