Iranian nurses assaulted, dismissed after protesting poor working conditions - report

Nurses at Fayazbakhsh Hospital in Iran were assaulted and detained, with some later dismissed or suspended from their jobs, after staging a strike over poor working conditions, Iran International reported on Tuesday.

Nursing staff at the Tehran hospital reportedly began striking on July 30 in response to increasingly overwhelming workloads, low wages and severe staff shortages.

The outlet reported that many nurses were beaten and detained by authorities and had their mobile phones confiscated.

Hospital leadership allegedly suspended and dismissed numerous staff members following the strike, although the exact number remains unknown.

Nurses cite unpaid wages and poor working conditions

Radio Zamaneh, an independent Persian-language media platform based in Amsterdam, reported that protests were also held in Iranshahr and Ilam.

The Nurses’ Protest Coordination Council, according to Zamaneh, complained that some nurses’ wage arrears had reached 10 months and that little had been done to improve their economic situation.

"We are nurses, not slaves, and we will not submit to forced labor," the council said in a statement.

Neither Iranian authorities nor the hospital administration have publicly commented on the reported measures.

Officials warn of deepening nursing shortage

Although the incident has not received widespread attention in Iran, Dr. Yousef Rahimi, first vice president of the Supreme Council of the Nursing Organization, told the Iranian Students’ News Agency that he had written to the presidential office demanding additional resources for nurses and calling for the introduction of a special allowance.

“Implementing the special allowance is the only solution to compensating for the wage gap between different groups in the Health Ministry. Certainly, the special allowance, together with the ‘recruitment allowance,’ can help address salary disparities. The Health Ministry has requested a recruitment allowance, but it appears that the response to the ministry’s request has been negative,” he said, explaining that nurses should receive 25,000 points.

Rahimi argued that current salaries, which he said stood at 25 million tomans, “do not cover living expenses.”

“When income is insufficient to meet living costs, workers choose to migrate to other countries or leave their jobs. Even if they do not choose professional migration or travel abroad, they lack sufficient motivation to provide services and work without concentration. Ultimately, those receiving healthcare services suffer from these conditions,” he warned.

Mehr News Agency reported that a package was currently under review that would provide nurses with boarding houses, tax exemptions and increased support measures.

Iran is rapidly developing a nursing crisis, with around 5,000 people leaving the profession annually, according to Mehr.