A member of the leadership of Iran's Medical Council (IRIMC) says the issue of nurses migrating to other countries has become a full-blown crisis, leaving Iran's hospitals far below international standards for treating patients.
Abolghasem Talebi, a member of the Supreme Council of IRIMC, told state-run radio on March 11 that the stark disparity between Iran and the global standard for nurse-to-bed ratios highlights the critical state of the country's health-care system.
He said nearly 3,000 nurses leave Iran each year, a figure that starkly contrasts with the 10,000 individuals trained annually at the country's educational institutions. This mass exodus, Talebi said, creates a "disaster" for the nation's health-care system.
"While the international norm stands at three nurses per bed, Iran's ratio is alarmingly less than a third of this benchmark," he said.
Talebi said Iran's health-care system currently employs around 240,000 nurses and that even with recruitment efforts trying to match the current total number of active nurses the system remains well below accepted international standards.
The Iranian Nursing System Organization has acknowledged the alarming rate of nurse migration and its effects on patient care, noting that retirement levels -- around 6,000 nurses annually -- is making it even harder to staff nursing stations, "compromising the quality of care and potentially leading to increased patient mortality."
Thousands of Iranian health professionals have left their homeland in recent years, mainly due to the country’s deepening economic crisis, difficult working conditions, and the lack of social and political freedoms.
Iranian media outlets estimate some 16,000 doctors, including specialists, have left the Islamic republic since 2020, leading to warnings of a public health-care crisis.
Tehran's harsh response to unrest across the country -- both by struggling industrial workers and farmers suffering severe water shortages in recent years, as well as supporters of the country's Women, Life, Freedom movement who have voiced their anger at the clerical establishment -- appears to have pushed many Iranians to consider leaving as well.