Iran’s Medical Council announced that 6,000 nurses and doctors have left Iran to immigrate to Europe and the U.S. in two years.
The migration of these Iranian doctors and nurses comes when the medical system in Iran faces a shortage of 150,000 nurses. At the same time, there is a real shortage of physicians and medical centers in most of Iran’s border cities and villages.
Hossein Ali Shahriari, the head of the parliamentary Health Commission, admitted on May 26, 2022: “In the provinces of South Khorassan, and Sistan-and-Baluchestan, sometimes a person must travel 300 kilometers to reach equipped medical centers located in the province’s capital.” (The state-run Dana News Agency – May 26, 2022)
Shahriari also pointed out that the unprofessional approvals of the government and parliament have created problems in the treatment of people in deprived areas and in providing them with doctors.
Earlier, Mohammad Sharifi Moghaddam, Secretary-General of the House of Nurses, had said, “The number of nurses migrating (from Iran) has probably increased by 200 to 300 percent compared to the past. Conditions are bad in our country, and nurses do not have job security.” (The state-run Armanmeli Daily – January 25, 2022)
In mid-March 2021, Reza Laripour, a spokesman for the Medical Council, said 4,000 Iranian physicians had registered to receive certificates for immigration. Most of the good-standing requests were applied for in September 2021.
In other news, Armin Zareian, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tehran’s Nursing Organization, said that in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, about 8,000 nurses emigrated from Iran. In Tehran alone, 500 requests for good-standing certificates were registered every month, which means five nurses in Tehran left Iran every day. (The state-run entekhab.ir – December 7, 2021)
The statistics declared by the Medical Council and Nursing Organization cover only the migration of nurses and doctors who have requested good standing. But some nurses and doctors emigrated to other countries without asking for good standing certificates.
The medical staff in Iran, especially female nurses, endured a lot of pressure during the coronavirus pandemic. Many medical interns and doctors’ assistants committed suicide in 2021.
The lack of financial and mental support for these groups of women has increased their migration.
