A nurse checking on a covid-19 patient in a makeshift hospital in Iran
Iranian nurses are outraged over recent remarks by President Ebrahim Raisi who said that during the Covid-19 pandemic, Basijis and Islamic scholars taught doctors and nurses how to serve the people.
The head of the Iranian Nursing Organization, Mohammad Mirzabeigi, wrote a letter to the president on Monday to express anger and disappointment about remarks by the head of Gilan Medical Sciences University, whom Raisi cited as the source of his contentious comment.
In the letter, Mirzabeigi said that the nursing community, along with other medical staff, is at the forefront of serving the people and patients and sacrificed a lot during the Covid-19 outbreak.
Describing nurses, physicians and paramedical personnel as the most committed forces in the country, he also called on the president to express gratitude for the efforts of the community and console the nurses and their families, many of whom have lost their loved ones on the line of duty during the pandemic.
In addition to Mirzabeigi, social media users also reacted to Raisi’s remarks, strongly criticizing the mass layoff of nurses after the height of the Covid health crisis was over.
Moreover, reports say that with the pandemic easing about 5,000 nurses who were working under temporary contracts have been fired.