Major Debt of the Ministry of Health to Nurses
Iranian nurses say that the Ministry of Health, by refusing to pay the 4% insurance contribution for hazardous and harmful occupations, has deprived them of the right to early retirement and increased their work-related pressures.
Esmaeil Shariati, a nursing union activist, wrote in a note to SalamatNews: Nurses, as one of the largest and most influential social groups, serve the people daily in complex and high-stress hospital environments, often with minimal income and under difficult conditions. Due to physical and psychological pressures and continuous occupational burnout, nursing is classified by law as a hazardous and harmful occupation.
The legislator has provided guidelines for early retirement and support for employees in hazardous occupations. However, nurses face a serious challenge: despite the legality of early retirement, they are deprived of these benefits.
The main reason for this problem is clear:
For regular occupations, the insurance contribution is 30%, with 23% paid by the employer and 7% by the employee.
In hazardous and harmful occupations, the insurance contribution is 34%, and the 4% difference must be paid by the employer to allow employees to benefit from their legal rights.
Unfortunately, the Ministry of Health, as the main employer of nurses, does not pay this 4% share. As a result, nurses cannot use the legal benefits of hazardous and harmful occupations. This practice is not only unacceptable but also disregards the legal rights of nurses and exacerbates their occupational burnout.
Today, in addition to difficult overtime, intensive shifts, night work, and extreme stress, which have increased with emerging diseases such as COVID-19, denying nurses the legal benefits of hazardous occupations is entirely unacceptable.
In these conditions, where nurses are exhausted and under physical and psychological pressure, it is expected that the Nursing Organization, as the main body for pursuing nurses’ legal claims, officially follow up on this issue with the Ministry of Health.
Furthermore, it is requested that the Honorable Minister of Health immediately and seriously intervene to ensure the payment of insurance for hazardous occupations for nurses and prevent the violation of their legal rights. This action is the minimum support needed to establish legal justice for nurses and allow them to continue serving with motivation and job security
