RFERL:

Iranian hospitals are dealing with a shortage of nearly 100,000 nurses, according to Parliament’s Health Commission Speaker Heidarali Abedi.

Abedi told the commission on Sunday that while healthcare management experts recommend a nurse-to-bed ration of 2.5, Iran’s current ratio is closer to 1.7.

"There are only 89,000 nurses currently working in the country's hospitals,” said the reformist MP from Isfahan. “Therefore, Iran needs at least 95,500 extra nurses.”

Abedi added that the shortage means most nurses work an average of 150 hours of overtime per year.

Around 1,000 nurses leave the country each year to pursue better pay and working conditions in Europe and North America, the Vice President of the Iranian Nursing Organization Mohammad Sharifi Moqddam said earlier this year.

"Most of the Iranian nurses emigrate to Australia, Canada, the U.K., The Netherlands, and Switzerland" Moqaddam said. Turkey and Persian Gulf countries also draw many of Iran’s nurses with better pay and conditions.

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