Evaz Heydarpour, a physician and former member of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament), reported that there is a daily exodus of “professors or associate professors of medical schools.” He stated in an interview with the regime’s “Khabar Online” website that “Every year, 10,000 individuals from the Iranian medical workforce (physicians, nurses, midwives) migrate.”
He also pointed out that the “best geriatric specialists” are leaving the country due to the mass migration of doctors, adding, “If I were the Minister of Health and witnessed this number of doctors migrating every day, I would resign.”
Meanwhile, an advisor to the Minister of Health and Medical Education of the Iranian regime, referencing the “Youth, Population, and Family Support Law,” announced that the country’s healthcare system is facing a shortage of 20,000 midwives.
Shahla Khosravi, also an advisor to the Minister of Health and Medical Education of the Iranian regime, stated to the semiofficial ISNA news agency that the treatment sector requires “12,000 midwives,” and the health sector also needs “8,000 midwives.”
Reza Laripour, the spokesperson for the regime’s Medical Council, previously mentioned that the “migration of the medical community” had doubled compared to the years before the coronavirus pandemic, and now Iran sends doctors to five continents.
The increase in the migration trend of Iranian healthcare professionals is due to dissatisfaction with the current situation and the disorder in the country’s affairs. They have also faced intensified confrontation by security and military institutions due to their declarations of opposition, expression of protest, or treatment of injured protesters, resulting in some being killed by the Iranian regime’s repressive forces.
Professional and economic pressures on nurses in Iran continue. According to a report from the semiofficial ILNA news agency, nurses are required to work 130 hours of overtime for a payment of 19 million rials (approximately $37.25).
Nurses work overtime every month according to their duty hours but receive a very insignificant amount, as stated by members of the “Nurse House” as quoted by the news agency. In fact, a nurse mentioned in the ILNA report that after several months of delay, the February overtime payment was 19 million rials for 130 hours, based on an “overtime work deposit” text message.
Issues related to nurses’ rights and wages have been ongoing. State-run Etemad newspaper quoted a nurse saying that for approximately 197 duty hours and 155 overtime hours in a month, they received around 18 million rials (approximately $35.29) as the nursing service fee. Furthermore, continuation of discriminatory and “illegal” payments led to protests by nurses in various provinces in March.
On April 17, the Free Workers’ Union of Iran reported that nurses in five provinces protested against the “government’s violation of nursing fees” and demanded the resignation of the “incompetent minister.”
The dire conditions for nurses and failure to meet their minimum demands ultimately led to the President of the Iranian Nursing Organization stating on September 18 that the necessary “attraction and retention” conditions for nurses in the country were not being met, resulting in the migration of “five to six Iranian nurses” daily.
Mohammad Mirzabeygi, speaking about the migration of nurses to the ILNA news agency, expressed concern over the fact that between “100 to 150 nurses” migrate abroad monthly.