Former Head of Tehran University of Medical Sciences: '800 Seats' in the Residency Exam Remain Vacant

The former head of Tehran University of Medical Sciences has reported the ongoing wave of migration among Iran's medical and healthcare personnel to other countries, stating that one of the consequences is the vacancy of '800 seats' in this year's residency exam. Ali Jafarian, the former president of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, told the 'Khabar Online' website regarding the intensity and extent of the migration wave in this sector: 'Today, medical students migrate right after graduation.' According to the 26th president of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, this trend is not limited to doctors; nurses are also migrating because they can perform the same job in Germany or Oman and earn a good income. On May 30, 2022, statistics released by the 'Iran Migration Observatory,' which is a subsidiary of Sharif University of Technology and operates in collaboration with the Vice Presidency for Science and Technology of Iran, indicated that '73% of doctors and nurses' expressed a desire to migrate due to 'the country's problems' and 'the economic situation' in Iran. This academic figure in Iran's health and treatment sector further stated that it has now become such that if someone wants to study for a medical residency, 'instead of Iran, they become residents abroad,' adding that this is why the highly competitive residency admission exam now has '800 seats left vacant.' In recent years, some officials of the Islamic Republic have also warned about the increasing trend of healthcare personnel leaving the country and the decreasing intake into the domestic system. On November 3, 2021, Hossein Ali Shahriari, the head of the Health and Treatment Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, expressed concern in a letter to Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, about the 'decrease in the number of specialized healthcare personnel' alongside the 'increased requests from doctors to migrate abroad.' Ali Jafarian, the former head of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, stated that today there is not even demand for 'luxury specialties' in the country, saying, 'I do not know what alarm bell needs to ring for some to wake up.' According to him, it is no longer '50 years ago' when 'Indian and Bangladeshi doctors' would come to Iran; they also go to England now because back then they had good incomes in Iran, but now why would they come to Iran? Nader Tokali, the head of the Iranian Emergency Medicine Association, also reported on January 7 that seats in the specialty of 'Emergency Medicine' remain vacant, stating that out of '2,500 emergency medicine specialists,' one-fourth do not work in emergency departments due to poor job conditions. Sahar Matlabi, a doctor and researcher in the health and treatment field, told Voice of America that the low incomes of medical students during their long study periods and the low payments to healthcare personnel in government centers have encouraged some to migrate. Dr. Sahar Matlabi's explanations about the problems of doctors and the migration of healthcare personnel from Iran highlight a situation where migration is seen as an escape from a country-wide prison; 'I am escaping, I am not migrating.' A special working group meeting revealed that the suicide rate among the resident population is up to five times higher than other groups. Hospitals will be empty of 'Emergency Medicine' specialists in the coming years. There has been a tenfold increase in the migration of healthcare personnel from Iran in five years, seen as a 'foreshock' of a devastating earthquake. Healthcare personnel continue to face violence; a nurse was assaulted in Yasuj. A new layer of the healthcare crisis in Iran has emerged, with businesses profiting from patient information. A former Sharif University professor expressed concern about the migration trend, stating that the current situation is a 'mass escape.'