Nursing Crisis in Iran: Despite Iran’s vast natural resources—oil, gas, and a wealth of human talent—the ruling regime continues to channel the nation’s wealth not toward improving citizens’ lives or supporting its workforce, but toward funding repression, exporting terrorism, and fueling conflicts across the region. The direct consequence of these policies is the decay of the country’s vital institutions, most notably its healthcare system.
Recently, Abbas Abdi, the Ministry of Health’s Nursing Deputy, openly acknowledged on state television the worsening human resource crisis in the nursing sector. According to this official, in the past year alone, 570 Iranian nurses have emigrated, while 1,950 others have left the profession due to harsh working conditions, meager pay, and job insecurity. The Ministry of Health has, therefore, lost some 2,500 nurses in the Persian year 1403 (March 2024-March 2025) (eghtesadnews.com, asriran.com, donya-e-eqtesad.com, October 27, 20225)
Abdi further stated that these figures are in addition to the retirement of nearly 1,900 nurses during the same period. The official admitted that policymakers continue to dismiss this issue as a “hidden cost,” even though, in his own words, “this is the core problem of the healthcare system.”
This rare admission offers a glimpse into a much deeper catastrophe: a regime that drives its most essential professionals either into exile or out of service through systemic neglect and exploitation. Nurses, once on the frontlines of saving lives, have now become victims of injustice, poverty, and the regime’s anti-people policies.
Experts warn that this ongoing exodus will lead to the gradual collapse of Iran’s healthcare system, the backbone of public health, which is now crumbling under the weight of corruption, indifference, and the mass departure of skilled medical workers.
