The number of nurses in Iran is one-fourth of the world standard.
In remarks reported on Saturday, January 5, 2019, Mohammad Sharifi Moghaddam, deputy director of the National Nursing Organization, revealed parts of the drastic situation of nurses in Iran and their difficult job. He said, “The problems of nurses in Iran must be examined and mismanagements in this field must be rectified.”
Nursing is considered as one of the most difficult and harmful jobs in the world. In Iran, nurses do not enjoy any form of support due to mismanagement and plunder of the public wealth by government officials.
Nurses are constantly subject to violence by patients and their companies. On the other hand, they are exposed to tuberculosis, hepatitis, influenza, and AIDs. They therefore need to receive support.
Sharifi Moghaddam said, “In many countries, nurses possess safety equipment and they have periodic full checkups, but this is not the case in our country. And nurses in Iran experience incessant pressure. On the other hand, our workforce is one-fourth of the world’s average and we face acute shortage of nursing workforce. This while most of the services in hospitals and health centers are offered by nurses. We have 1.5 nurses in Iran for every 1,000 people, while in Georgia and Tajikestan, there are 6 nurses for every 1,000 patients.” (The state-run Fars news agency – January 5, 2019)
Earlier in November, Sharifi Moghaddam had admitted that there are 30,000 unemployed nurses who cannot be recruited due to limited funds and lack of employment license.
Despite at least 30,000 unemployed nurses, “there are only 1.6 nurses attending to every 1,000 patients in Iran,” Sharifi Moghaddam said, adding, “To receive appropriate nursing services every nurse can attend to a maximum of four patients. But the world’s average is six nurses for every 1,000 patients. If we want to have the minimum number of nurses for Iran’s population of 80,000,000, we must have at least 240,000 nurses working across the country while we have only 160,000 nurses busy providing health services and care.” (The state-run Young Journalists Club website – October 29, 2018)
