IRANIAN campaigners are reporting that there have been widespread protests of nursing staff in Iran over the last two weeks.

The Campaign for Defence of Iranian People’s Rights (Codir) says protests have taken place at around 50 hospitals since early August.

The protests have called for more action to be taken by authorities over the soaring cost of living in Iran and the low wages, insecure employment and poor working conditions experienced by health workers.

In some hospitals, nurses have reportedly also taken strike action over their pay and conditions. 

Government officials are said to have reacted to the protests with threats, which sparked a statement from the Nursing System Board of Directors of Mashhad and its affiliated cities warning against “any harassment or inappropriate treatment of nurses that would exacerbate their protests.”

The nurses’ protests appear to have begun in Karaj and then spread to other cities in Khorasan and Fars provinces. 

According to available reports, the average monthly salary of nurses in large cities is about 12 and 13.3 million tomans (£184 to £204) in large and small cities. 

Some 10 per cent of nurses reportedly earn less than the equivalent of £90 per month. 

Codir called on Tuesday for the international trade union movement to “rally behind the demands of these dedicated public sector workers in Iran.”