Fabricated Figures: Why are Iran's Nurses Leaving

Behind the Claims of Progress Lies a Crisis of Burnout, Gender Discrimination, and Mass Emigration in Iran’s Healthcare SystemGovernment Claims Drop in Nurse Emigration Amid CrisisAccording to state-run media, the Iranian Health Minister, Mohammadreza Zafarghandi, claimed during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, May 28, that there has been a “significant reduction in the emigration of nurses, doctors, and specialists in the second half of the year 1403 (Persian calendar), compared to the same period in 1402.” (Fararu – May 28, 2025)The next day, Deputy Minister of Nursing, Abbas Ebadi, attributed this alleged achievement to “hope-building and supportive policies.” (YJC – May 29, 2025)Ebadi asserted that, “According to the Nursing Organization, only around 2,000 nurses applied for emigration certificates in 1402, but that number has dropped to under 1,300 in 1403.” He further stated that this decline has been “especially noticeable in the latter half of 1403, where upward trends in nurse migration have nearly stopped.”Experts Call Government Statistics ‘Unbelievable and Misleading’These claims have sparked a wave of disbelief, even among officials and analysts within the regime itself. Mohammad Sharifi-Moqaddam, Secretary-General of the House of Nurses, criticized the numbers:“The Ministry of Health and the Nursing Organization are jointly presenting statistics to deflect from the real problems nurses are facing. They want to paint a picture that nurses are now satisfied and no longer migrating—when this is clearly not true.” (Khabar Online – June 6, 2025)Sharifi-Moqaddam continued:“When we stated that at least 3,000 Iranian nurses had emigrated, officials challenged our data—yet we relied on multiple credible sources. The fact is that nurse migration is not channeled through one official pipeline. There is no unified registry, so no one can accurately claim a ‘35% drop.’ We ask: how did they come up with this figure?”Health policy expert Seyed Mohammad Alavi reinforced this skepticism:“Assessing nurse migration solely based on the number of certificates issued by the Nursing Organization lacks any scientific validity. It risks grossly misrepresenting a complex and multifaceted issue.” (Hamshahri Online – May 31, 2025)According to international data from destination countries, Iranian nurse migration between 2020 and 2024 has not decreased—in fact, it has grown faster than regional averages.Support the show