Nurses in various cities across Iran have launched campaigns protesting against mandatory overtime work, as reported by ILNA news agency on April 20. Among these protests is a complaint filed by some nurses in Mashhad to the Court of Justice regarding compulsory overtime work.
Additionally, approximately 200 nurses at Shahid Rajaee Hospital in Shiraz protested against “excessive shifts and meager compensation for mandatory overtime,” expressing their demand to end compulsory overtime work.
According to ILNA, protesting nurses argue that they are no longer willing to endure mandatory overtime that amounts to “exploitation.” The compensation for mandatory overtime for nurses is reported to be “very insignificant, ranging between 16,000 to 20,000 tomans per hour.”
At present market rates, 20,000 tomans amount to 31 cents.
In this context, a member of the Health and Treatment Commission of the regime’s parliament, referring to the anticipated departure of nurses and medical staff as “one of the serious challenges facing the healthcare sector in the future,” stated, “Our number of nurses is insufficient, and the step the parliament took to address nurses’ satisfaction was tariffing nursing services. However, this tariffing has not only been inadequately implemented but also has been delayed.”
April 13—Ahvaz, southwest #Iran
Nurses of Golestan hospital rally in front of the offices of the health ministry, protesting forced overtime work, unpaid wages, and changes to tariff laws.#IranProtests pic.twitter.com/hRcsd6HpZ3— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 13, 2024
Mohammad-Ali Mohseni Bandpey further elaborated, “Due to the influx of tourists to the western region of Mazandaran, especially cities like Nowshahr, Chalus, and Kelardasht, the workload of nurses in our region is very high, and hospitals are facing severe financial difficulties.”
He added, “The high workload, delayed payments, low staff numbers, and the volume of patients visiting these hospitals have led to relative dissatisfaction.”
The MP stated, “Hospital expenses with low government tariffs and payments delayed by insurance organizations, along with the accumulation of debts to Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences and the negligence of officials, have increased the workload of nurses.”
Mohseni Bandpayi emphasized that “the situation of nurses in society is not good at all,” indicating clear negligence by officials in this regard.
Previously, Abolghasem Abutalebi, a member of the Supreme Nursing Council, described the emigration situation of nurses from Iran as reaching a “crisis point” in the final days of the previous year, calling for solutions to address it.
April 8—Lamerd, southern #Iran
Nurses hold rally, protesting forced overtime work, unpaid wages, and changes to tariff laws. #IranProtestspic.twitter.com/dqRBNvCkEr— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) April 8, 2024
He mentioned that about 10,000 nursing staff were trained each year, and in 2022, nearly three thousand nurses emigrated.
According to officials at the Ministry of Health, the destination of nurse emigration encompasses a wide range of countries, including Iran’s neighbors and the Persian Gulf region to Western, European, and South African countries.
Abutalebi also criticized the “drip-like” hiring of nurses, stating that to reach the standard of 2.5 nurses per bed, the current number of 240,000 nurses in Iran must triple.
Nurses are among the segments of society that have expressed their dissatisfaction with the Iranian regime through protests and gatherings in recent years, demanding attention to their demands.
