Member of Parliament's Oversight Committee in the Supreme Nursing Council: If the Current Trend Continues, We Will Be Forced to Import 'Inexperienced Nurses and Doctors'

Weeks after widespread protests by nurses in Iran and a rise in their emigration statistics, a member of the Iranian Parliament's oversight committee in the Supreme Nursing Council confirmed the validity of these statistics and stated that the continuation of this situation would lead to the 'import of inexperienced nurses and doctors.' Asadollah Cheraghi emphasized the importance of addressing the livelihood conditions of 'elites' as a key issue in resolving their problems. The risk of a shortage of nurses and doctors in Iran has raised alarms among many experts in recent years. In May, the head of the Surgeons' Society told 'Etemad' newspaper that in recent exams, there was not a single candidate for vascular surgery. Iraj Fazel stated, 'Similarly, some other specialized fields will remain vacant, and we will have to import specialists from abroad in ten years and send patients abroad for specialized surgeries again.' The alarm for a shortage of specialist doctors has also been sounding in Iran for a long time. The head of the Medical System Organization warned in September 2022 that the cardiac surgery specialty had no applicants that year, with only two pediatric surgery graduates in the entire country. Recently, the spokesperson for the Medical System Organization of Iran again warned of the danger of a shortage of 'super-specialist doctors' in the country, attributing the main reason for the declining interest in specialized and super-specialized fields to the creation of 'livelihood problems' for these individuals. Reza Laripour stated that exhausting overnight shifts, time away from family, and sometimes a lack of hope for the future are other reasons for the disinterest in studying in many medical fields such as anesthesia, pediatrics, internal medicine, and emergency medicine. Multiple policy-making problems in the health and treatment sector have pushed doctors towards other jobs or forced them to emigrate. Minou Mohraz, secretary of the Infectious Diseases Association, has warned about the emigration of doctors, stating, 'We are training doctors for other countries, not for our own.' Ms. Mohraz said, 'The main issue is job enthusiasm and security, and [these individuals] cannot afford basic necessities no matter how much they work.' Healthcare staff in Iran have faced numerous challenges in recent years, including the ambiguity of certain fixed-term contracts, delays in salary and benefits payments, and the disproportionate nature of some service tariffs. Nurses and healthcare workers in Iran have repeatedly held protests in various cities over their job conditions and related issues in recent years. Additionally, the Secretary-General of the Nurses' House reported on September 6 that approximately 200 nurses emigrate monthly from Iran, emphasizing that this does not reflect the true statistics as emigration occurs through 'various channels.' Mohammad Sharifi-Moghadam noted that Iran ranks 'last in the world in terms of nurses' salaries' among all countries, adding, 'Even the worst countries in Africa do not have this situation.'