Nursing Organization Calls for Real Increase in the Value of Nurses' Services

The head of the Nursing Organization wrote a letter to the Minister of Health of the Islamic Republic, stating the demands of nurses include "increasing the number of nursing service packages," "increasing the relative value of services in certain sectors," and "real increases in the monetary rate of nursing tariffs." According to ISNA news agency, Ahmad Najatian wrote that nursing tariffs for the upcoming year should be calculated based on the inflation rate, but the criteria for calculating the inflation rate are unclear. He also reported that representatives of this government nursing organization were not invited to meetings held on this subject, adding that they have only been invited to one meeting and that sending the Supreme Insurance Council's resolution to the government without the Nursing Organization's opinion will not be accepted by the Nursing Organization. Previously, reports indicated that the Council of Representatives of Nurses at the University of Medical Sciences in Mashhad had given the government a deadline until November 8, Nurse's Day, to address the demands of the nursing community in Iran. They announced that they would not participate in any government ceremonies to celebrate this day. Meanwhile, media reports indicate a continued shortage of nurses in Iran's healthcare network and an intensification of the migration of nurses. A Health Ministry official confirmed that nurses' salaries do not correspond to the difficulty of their work, leading to nurse migration and a shortage of nursing staff in the country. The Director General of Human Capital Empowerment and Improvement at the Health Ministry told the IRNA news agency that the average overtime pay for nurses is less than 30,000 tomans per hour, which, along with other issues, has led to widespread nurse migration, as many countries offer better financial conditions for nurses. Abbas Abaszadeh emphasized that we face many challenges in clinical services that harm the public. He stated that many countries need nurses and provide suitable financial conditions for their presence, which is why we are facing widespread nurse migration. In this context, the Secretary-General of the Iranian Nurses House reported on November 6 that 50,000 nurses are homebound, stating, "Until we fix the infrastructure, hiring is like pouring water into a sieve." Mohammad Sharifi Moghaddam told the newspaper Shargh that currently, nurses are migrating or leaving their jobs for other professions. The intensification of nurses' problems in July of this year led to a continuous and ongoing nationwide strike, where hundreds of nurses and healthcare staff from public hospitals began protests and strikes, emphasizing the realization of their professional and livelihood demands in at least 16 provinces of Iran, continuing until September. The continuation of the nurses' strikes led to security crackdowns and the arrest of several nurses, prompting the U.S. State Department and the International Council of Nurses (ICN) to express concern on September 8 over the "unjust detention and sentencing" of protesting nurses in Iran. At the same time, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department announced that the department is closely monitoring the protests of nurses and healthcare staff in Iran and expressed concern over reports of the "unjust" detention and sentencing of many protesters in these peaceful protests.