Nurses Equipped with Pepper Spray, Stun Guns, and Batons for Personal Protection

Mohammad Sharifi-Moghadam, the Secretary-General of the Nurses' House, announced that nurses can officially be equipped with personal protective equipment including pepper spray, stun guns, and telescopic batons. According to the news website Khabar Online, this union official stated that based on a contract between the Nurses' House and a 'security and care company', thousands of nurses have the 'opportunity to purchase and equip themselves with security and personal protection equipment including pepper spray, stun guns, and telescopic batons'. The equipping of nurses with personal protective equipment comes as reports indicate that, for the umpteenth time in recent months, medical staff in Iranian hospitals have been subjected to 'assaults' by patients' companions. Previously, a nurse from Yasuj was severely injured by 'stabbing from a patient's companion' in the 'neck area'. According to Iranian media reports, the assailant was 'arrested and prosecuted'. Following this nurse's injury, several of her colleagues protested the 'unsafe conditions of the hospital' by gathering at the Medical Sciences University. On the other hand, the Deputy for Nursing at the Ministry of Health condemned the violent actions against medical staff and called for a 'review of security provisions' for nurses in emergency departments of medical centers. The healthcare sector in Iran faces numerous challenges, including budget shortages, a lack of medicine, an increase in the emigration of healthcare staff, especially nurses, and rising migration of doctors. Previously, Sharifi-Moghadam reported a '15 percent rate of nurses leaving their jobs', describing it as 'shocking'. He stated that while job abandonment has always existed, it has accelerated sharply in the past three to four years. Recent symbolic and protest resignations are new and meant to demonstrate collective grievances of nurses. A nurse says, 'Now that I want to leave, others should also be informed.' Emigration among nurses has also accelerated. The head of the Nursing Organization of the country announced last Esfand that at least 2,700 nurses emigrate annually and that a 'retention package for nurses' is being developed. The website Rouydad24 reported on November 9 that several 'heads of public hospitals' expressed concern over the 'exit of medical staff from the public sector'. The newspaper Donya-e-Eqtesad reported at the beginning of November last year that Abbas Abadi, the Deputy for Nursing at the Ministry of Health, Treatment, and Medical Education, announced a shortage of '70,000 nursing staff across all sectors'. Nurses and healthcare workers in Iran have repeatedly held protests in various cities over their job conditions and associated problems in recent years and months. The Persian section of Voice of America has reported on various television and website reports about the challenges faced by healthcare staff, especially nurses, and the issues leading to an intensified migration crisis in this sector.