General Director of the Nurse’s Home: Nurses are being massacred in hospitals
80,000 Iranian nurses infected with COVID-19 in 14 months
Fifteen months after the COVID-19 catastrophe in Iran, more than 251,000 Iranians have died in 535 cities according to figures announced by the Iranian Resistance. This is while, according to the Head of Iran’s Nursing Organization, 80,000 Iranian nurses have also been infected with the deadly virus in the past 14 months while around 8,000 healthcare workers are unable to serve due to hospitalization, quarantine, and other related issues.
This is the result of the regime’s inhuman policy of not vaccinating healthcare workers and Iranians in general.
The figures on the infection of nurses announced by the Head of Iran’s Nursing Organization, Mohammad Mirza Beigi, has made headlines in Iran’s state-run media.
The infection of 80,000 Iranian nurses comes at a time when Iran is facing a severe shortage of nurses.
“According to global standards, four nurses are needed for every 1,000 people in the population. This figure is under one nurse, something around 0.9, in Iran,” Mirza Beigi said (The state-run Entekhab website –April 9, 2021).
Before this, the head of the Parliamentary Health Committee, Hossein-Ali Shahriari that there was a “shortage of 80,000 to 150,000 nurses in public and private centers.” (The state-run daily Arman-e Emrooz –September 27, 2018).
130 nurses dead from COVID-19
The Head of Iran’s Nursing Organization who announced the infection of 80,000 Iranian nurses also said 110 nurses had passed away. (The state-run ISNA News Agency – April 9, 2021)
This is while the General Director of the Nurse’s House put the number of deaths at 130 today and said nurses were being “massacred” in hospital due to the vaccine delay.
“Unfortunately, in the past week, eight nurses in various cities died from COVID-19 and in light of the delay in the vaccination of nurses, it can be said that nurses are being massacred in hospitals,” Mohammad Sharifi Moghadam said. (The state-run Khabarban website – April 13, 2021)
“Unfortunately, with 130 dead nurses who were fighting COVID-19, we are among the countries with the most number of infections and deaths among nurses,” he added.
Last September, a member of Iran’s COVID-19 task force said 164 doctors and nurses had passed away from the virus. (The state-run Mehr news agency –September 23, 2020).
Due to the regime’s lack of transparency on the number of COVID-19 related deaths and infections, these figures should be considered as a minimum of the real numbers.
The deaths of several female nurses made headlines in Iran.
In February, a pregnant nurse who worked at Tehran’s Loghman Hakim Hospital passed away from COVID-19. Doctors were able to save Mahshid Goudarz’s seven-month-old baby moments before her death. On January 22, the state-run Khabar Online website published a report about her death titled, “Mahshid Goudarz was martyred because there was no vaccine.”
A young nurse, identified as Rayeheh Ranjbar passed away in the northern city of Astaneh-ye Ashrafiyeh on January 6, while Akram Ahadian, a nurse working at Zanjan’s Valiasr Hospital in northwestern Iran passed away on November 10. (The state-run Mehr News Agency – November 10, 2020)
Zahra Hassan Ramezani, an operation room technician who worked at the Imam Ali Hospital in the southeastern city of Rafsanjan passed away from COVID-19. Before this, another nurse identified as Omolbanin Shahmoradi had passed away in Kerman Province (The official IRNA news agency –November 15, 2020).
No vaccine in sight while regime officials blame Iranians
Regime officials blame Iranians, saying that the reason behind the widespread infections and the new wave of COVID-19 was Nowruz trips and that people did not follow health protocols.
According to Hamid Emadi, a member of the COVID-19 Taskforce, the county would face “at least three difficult weeks filled with death.”
“Healthcare workers are very tired. You do not know how bad the conditions are at hospitals,” he added (The state-run Shahrara website –April 9, 2021).
On January 8, the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei announced a ban on the import of US and UK made vaccines.
“Everyone knows that during the past 14 months, the government has put preference over the economy to the lives and health of people, although the people are always the ones who are sacrificed,” Jahan-e Sanat state-run daily wrote on April 8, 2021.
The head of the General Assembly of the Iran’s Medical Organization also said that 80% of healthcare workers in public hospitals had not been vaccinated.
“Even 80% of nurses working in public hospitals have not received the vaccine,” he added. (The state-run ILNA News Agency – April 8, 2021)
Before this, the head of the Council of Iran’s Nursing Organization said vaccinations should have progressed much faster.
Shamsoddin Shamsi declared that the Ministry of Health had not even given the figures on how many nurses had been vaccinated to the Nursing Organization. (The state-run ILNA news agency –April 5, 2021).
A glance at vaccination figures in some countries shows the scope of the regime’s negligence in vaccinating healthcare workers and Iranians in general.
In the US, close to 20% of the population have received the two doses of the vaccine. In the UK, more than 55% of the population have received the vaccine while in Hungary, 37% of the population have been vaccinated. In Serbia 38% of the population and in Singapore close to 29% of the population have received one dose of the vaccine.
