A protest gathering of nurses and healthcare workers was held in Kermanshah and Kurdistan in recent days over poor living conditions, unpaid wages and benefits, and difficult working conditions. Most recently, nurses and healthcare workers in Kermanshah held a protest on Tuesday, September 8, 2026. Two days earlier, more than 300 nurses and healthcare workers had gathered outside the Kurdistan provincial governor’s office.
Protest Gathering of Nurses and Healthcare Workers in Kermanshah
On Tuesday, September 8, 2026, a group of nurses and healthcare workers from hospitals in Kermanshah held a protest over their poor financial situation and unresolved pay-related problems.
The protest gathering of nurses and healthcare workers in Kermanshah focused mainly on unpaid wages and benefits, low salaries, and long delays in overtime payments. The protesters said healthcare workers are facing serious financial difficulties and that prolonged delays in receiving their payments have placed additional pressure on them.
One of the main complaints was the failure to pay overtime for the past year. The nurses called for their overdue payments to be made immediately and demanded clarity about when they would receive the money they are owed. They also protested having to wait for months to receive the relatively small amounts owed to them for overtime work.
During the protest, the nurses chanted slogans criticizing their pay and the authorities’ response to their protests. Among the reported slogans were: “We say we have no pay, and you bring in the police,” and “Inflation is in dollars, but our salaries are in rials.”
Protest Gathering of More Than 300 Nurses and Healthcare Workers in Kurdistan
Before the Kermanshah protest, more than 300 nurses and healthcare workers in Kurdistan Province gathered outside the provincial governor’s office on Sunday, September 6, 2026.
The protest gathering of nurses and healthcare workers in Kurdistan began at 10 a.m. The participants called for their workplace and financial grievances to be addressed. The nurses chanted slogans including, “Incompetent official, resign, resign,” and “Enough with promises, our tables are empty.”
The protesters cited low wages and benefits compared with the heavy responsibility and sensitivity of their work, staff shortages, delays in overtime payments, a lack of transparency in payments, and problems with the rules governing nurses’ pay.
They also protested low housing and clothing allowances and the failure to pay some benefits for more than two years.
Another major complaint was the gap between the payments made to nurses and those made to doctors. The protesters described this disparity as unfair and discriminatory within the healthcare payment system.
Nurses’ Protests Continue Across Iran
The recent protest gathering of nurses and healthcare workers in Kermanshah and Kurdistan comes amid months of demonstrations by nurses and other healthcare workers in cities across Iran. Nurses working in public hospitals have protested low wages, mandatory overtime, staff shortages, difficult working conditions, and the failure to properly implement regulations governing nurses’ pay.
Their main demands include better pay, higher compensation for their work, an end to mandatory unpaid overtime, and decent and humane working conditions.
Earlier waves of nurses’ protests also spread to numerous cities. On August 28, 2026, nurses, healthcare support workers, and emergency medical personnel protested in at least nine cities, including Isfahan, Neyshabur, Bandar Abbas, Kermanshah, Tehran, Bushehr, Hamadan, Yazd, and Ilam. In Bushehr, government forces clashed with protesting emergency medical workers, and several protesters were arrested.
Threats and Summonses Against Protesting Nurses
Alongside their financial and workplace grievances, protesting nurses have also faced administrative and security pressure. Reports have documented the summoning and intimidation of nurses in various cities across Iran.
Mohammad Sharifi-Moghadam, secretary-general of the Nurses’ House, said in an interview with the ILNA news agency on July 8, 2026, that the summoning and intimidation of protesting nurses had intensified across the country.
Referring to the summoning of around 60 nurses in Kerman and several others in Kermanshah over their participation in labor protests, he described the measures as part of the Health Ministry’s policy of suppressing nurses’ demands.
There have also been numerous reports of pressure on nurses to continue working under unsafe and unlawful conditions. Threats, disciplinary summonses, and administrative pressure have been among the measures reported during nurses’ labor protests.
Despite these pressures, the protest gathering of nurses and healthcare workers in Kermanshah and Kurdistan is part of an ongoing wave of protests by healthcare workers across Iran. Their demands, including timely payment of wages and benefits, fairer pay arrangements, and an end to mandatory overtime, remain unresolved.
