Despite Warnings; Continued Migration of Doctors and Media Criticism of Unchanged 'Decisions' by Officials

The migration of doctors has been a topic repeatedly raised in Iranian media over the past two years, with warnings issued regarding its occurrence. Reported statistics confirm this trend and have led some media outlets in Iran to criticize the decisions of officials. The website 'Didban Iran' has reported on the 'migration of doctors' in a context where 'official decisions' have not changed. According to this report, about 40% of top scorers in entrance exams and Olympiads are emigrating from the country. Last year, 160 cardiologists migrated from the country. During the same period, 30,000 healthcare personnel from medical schools requested a 'certificate of good conduct' for migration to Oman. Additionally, over the past four years, 16,000 general practitioners have emigrated from the country. In September of last year, Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi, the then-president of the Medical Council, reported that over 3,000 doctors had requested to emigrate in one year. In March of last year, when concerns about the migration of doctors peaked in the media, the newspaper Hamshahri, affiliated with the Tehran municipality and a supporter of President Ebrahim Raisi, published a report titled 'A Lie Called Doctors' Migration' denying this issue. Emigration in Iran has become one of the ways to escape government restrictions, and the latest report from the International Organization for Migration, published late last year, indicates that the number of Iranian migrants in 2022 was about 2.8 million, equivalent to 3.3% of the total population of the country. Migration has become prevalent among all segments of society in Iran. This trend, viewed as 'worrisome' by many, has also affected workers, and according to a newspaper close to Ali Khamenei, the desire to emigrate has extended to 'simple labor.' This is the result of a multi-year trend. The newspaper Etemad, whose director is appointed by Ali Khamenei, recently emphasized that it can be confidently stated that the main reason for the strong desire to emigrate among Iranians is due to the 'disparity between existing socio-economic conditions and desirable conditions.' The article noted that the inability of governments to address the youth's flight from the homeland has manifested itself, and only 20% of the Iranian workforce born can be counted on for the future. On July 1, Jahangir Sanjabi Shirazi, Secretary-General of the Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce, reported an increase in the migration of Iranian labor to Iraq, stating that the migration of traders to Iraq is also occurring at a low level. On April 27, the Open Data Iran database announced based on a survey that 93% of respondents said they had seriously considered emigrating from the country. About half of this number stated that they had taken steps for migration, with those holding university degrees being more numerous than those without. More than half of the respondents indicated that they had thought about emigration between 2009 and 2019, with most being aged 29 to 30. Accordingly, in April of this year, the Iran Migration Observatory reported, based on international statistics, that 'Iran ranks eighth among the worst countries in the world to live in.' The Iran Migration Observatory's annual migration report for 2022 stated that the reasons for the increase in Iranian migration to other countries include governance style, entrenched corruption in the country, the pursuit of greater welfare and security, professional and social discrimination, better quality of life abroad, currency fluctuations, inflation and economic conditions, sanctions, wage levels, and economic instability.