Local media in a southwestern city in Iran reported that 38 Iranian medical workers were laid off after protesting to demand three months of their unpaid wages.
According to the report, three emergency workers were initially fired in Dezful, Khuzestan Province for organizing a meeting with the city’s head of Friday Prayers and the Governor to express their grievances. After that, 35 other Iranian medical workers were fired on Sunday night.
Khuzestan Province currently has one of the highest numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Iran. Dezful has the second-highest number of coronavirus cases after the capital of the province, Ahvaz.
According to the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an opposition group that provides daily coronavirus fatalities, at least 3,435 people have died in Khuzestan province. The group said today that 44,533 Iranians have died across Iran from the virus.
However, Mohammad Mahmoudinejad, the director of the Dezful Emergency Center said that the workers were not laid off, and that they had refused to come to work to protest not receiving their paychecks.
Mahmoudinejad said they the paramedics’ problems would be solved as soon as the Dezful Medical Sciences University had enough funds to pay them. He said that the University was having problems providing funds due to the coronavirus outbreak.
He also said that the Health Ministry and the Emergency Organization were responsible for providing the necessary funding.
The Dezful Medical Sciences University is also responsible for health centers and hospitals in the neighboring cities of Shush and Gotvand in addition to Dezful.
Since April, there have been numerous reports on the expulsions of nurses, medical workers, and especially contracted forces in several provinces, including Gilan, and Mazandaran in northern Iran and the central province of Isfahan.
Nurses were told that they had to sign a 39-day contract or be sacked. Nurses and other hospital employees who took part in protesters were laid off.
On May 4, at least 30 medical workers in the Abu Ali Sina Hospital in Shiraz, southwestern Iran, who had participated in protests were laid off. They were protesting 50% wage cuts and not receiving some of their wages from last year.
The Iranian regime has not provided substantial financial aid to Iranians during the coronavirus outbreak. This is while the regime continues to provide millions to its proxy groups in the region including Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
Source » irannewswire