Iranian nurses face huge physical and psychological pressures while this job is arranged as difficult jobs. They regularly retire after 20 years of service in many countries across the globe.

Article 75 of the mullahs’ constitution has forbidden women from doing hard and harmful works. However, it does not consider nursing as hard and harmful work. In this respect, in 2009, the Iranian regime’s parliament passed a bill that “excluded female nurses from article 75.”

Furthermore, the regime’s labor law has declared that “The working hours of hard and difficult jobs should not exceed six hours per day and 36 hours per week.”

Article 65 has also specified that workers who are recruited in hard and harmful jobs should have five weeks of vacation per year.

According to article 61 of the labor law, “Workers who are employed in hard and harmful jobs are not allowed overtime work under any circumstances.”

However, Iranian nurses are excluded from all of the mentioned articles despite their insignificant salaries. Particularly, healthcare staff deal with more difficulties and pressure while these days they are in the frontline against the novel coronavirus and play the key role in the fight against this ominous disease.

In this respect, many of them have lost their lives in this battlefield. On May 21, Deputy Health Minister Qassem Janbabaei admitted that “Around 10,000 members of the country’s medical personnel have contracted COVID-19 and unfortunately several of them have lost their lives so far.”

Additionally, in an interview with the state-run TV Channel Two, the head of Medical Council Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi said, “[Medical personnel] really devoted their lives and 170 people have passed away.”

 

Read More:

Iran: 111 Medical Staff Have Died of Coronavirus So Far, Regime Lays Off Nurses

 

Earlier, on February 29, the state-run Resalat daily quoted Mohammad Sharifi-Moghaddam, the secretary-general of Nurse House, as saying, “Regarding the statistics of infected nurses, we cannot announce a figure. The statistics are completely security-related.”

Moreover, nurses suffer from a lack of job security. These selfless people hoped to at least have job security when the country is in the severe need of their service. However, in many areas, including areas designated as red code, nurses are concerned about dismissing their jobs.

In Gilan province, northern Iran, “After 89 days of hard work amid the coronavirus and in cities that are in red status, 560 volunteer nurses are concerned about being laid off while hospitals are severely suffering from lack of nurses,” wrote ILNA news agency on May 9.

However, nurses rejected the 89-day contract and protested against their dismissal. In addition to Gilan, healthcare staff in Isfahan province, center Iran, held a rally in front of the Judiciary in protest against discrimination, unresponsiveness, non-transparency, and injustice.

Sharifi-Moghaddam had previously announced that “the country lacks 100,000 nurses,” according to Salamat News website on May 3.

On May 11, Asghar Dalvandi, the chairman of the Nursing Organization, had declared that the country faces a lack of 125,000 nurses while thousands of nurses are unemployed, ISNA news agency wrote on the same day.

Nurses’ Salary According to Labor Law

According to the regime’s labor law, nurses should receive $180 monthly, which amounts to $2,176 yearly in the best situation. However, they do not receive this insignificant salary in many cases, which has led them to raise their voice and protest against unfair law.

In other countries, nurses receive several times the salary of Iranian nurses. For instance, these selfless people are annually paid between $55,000 and 180,000 in the United States and Canada. However, Iran’s medical staff cannot provide essential supplies for their families and live below the poverty line.

Number

Nurses’ wage in 2020

Daily (rial)

Monthly (rial)

1

Base salary (based on 30 days)

309,977rial [$1.8]

9,299,310 rial [$54.7]

2

Housing allowance

13,333 rial [$0.7]

400,000 rial [$2.35]

3

experience bonus

17,000 rial [$0.1]

510,000 rial [$3]

4

Support for consumption items

36,677 rial [$0.2]

1,100,000 rial [$6.4]

5

Family support for one child

30,998 rial [$1.8]

929,931 rial [$5.4]

6

Rewards

51,663 rial [$0.3]

1,549,885 rial [$9.1]

7

Privileges of finishing work

25,831 rial [$0.1]

774,943 rial [$4.5]

8

Vacation (one month per year)

309,977 rial [$1.8]

9,299,310 rial [$54.7]

9

Shift payment – 10% for 30 days (morning & afternoon)

30,998 rial [$0.1]

929,931 rial [$5.4]

10

Shift payment – 15% for 30 days (morning & afternoon & night)

46,497 rial [$0.2]

1,394,897 rial [$8.2]

11

Shift payment – 22.5% for 30 days (morning & night or afternoon & night)

69,745 rial [$0.4]

2,092,345 rial [$12.3]

12

Shift payment – 35% for 30 days (10 pm – 6 am)

108,492 rial [$0.6]

3,254,759 rial [$19.1]

13

Basic tax exemption ceiling for nursing law

00

20,000,000 rial [$117.6]

According to the Statistical Center of Iran, the poverty line is close to 80 million rials [over $470]. Of course, this is an optimistic estimation and according to a report by the state-run Jahan-e Sanat daily on June 2, “the poverty line is 9 million rials [$530].” A government-linked economic expert told this daily, “Every year, goods’ prices become more expensive by 40 percent, instead, salaries increase by 15 percent.”

Furthermore, the regime has yet to pay nurses’ salaries for months in several areas. According to the president of Isfahan Medical Sciences University, “Doctors’ arrears from April 2019, and nurses’ arrears from June 2019 have yet to be paid so far,” Ghalam website wrote on May 30.

This is while the regime has given $30 billion to the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad to keep him in power, according to Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, the former chairman of the Parliament’s security and foreign affairs commission. On the other hand, on June 2, MP Mohammad Alipour in a public session of the parliament said, “Given the imprudence of the government and the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), nearly $40 billion have been plundered from the government treasury in recent years.” However, nurses’ share of national resources is poverty, and misery in a country has at least eight percent of the global wealth.