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Iranwire -Publicly available figures show that the number of doctors who left Iran last year was nearly one-third higher than the number of doctors entering the medical workforce, according to Iran Open Data (IOD).
Based on statistics from the country’s Medical Council Organization, an average of 4,982 new doctors entered the job market annually between 2012 and 2022, the collaborative initiative said in a recent report.
It also cited a June article by the Farhikhtegan newspaper, the official mouthpiece for Tehran’s Islamic Azad University, as saying that 6,500 Iranian physicians, including 2,300 specialists, emigrated last year.
These figures mean that the number of incoming doctors was 30 percent lower than the number of physicians who left the country.
Meanwhile, data collected by the Migration Observatory of Iran from statistics compiled by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) show a steady increase in the number of Iranian doctors working in developed countries.
According to these statistics, the number of Iranian doctors employed in OECD countries has increased from about 4,000 to over 10,000 over the past decade, Iran Open Data said.
The process of obtaining a medical license in a foreign country can take several years, meaning that the actual number of Iranian doctors who have emigrated to OECD countries is probably much higher, IOD pointed out.
A survey conducted by the Iran Migration Observatory in the summer of 2022 indicated that 54 percent of doctors and nurses had a strong desire to leave the country; 24 percent said they had decided to emigrate; and 7.5 percent said they had taken concrete steps to emigrate.
The survey was held before the bloody crackdown on dissent that accompanied last year’s nationwide protests, and it can be expected that the determination to move abroad among doctors and other segments of the Iranian population have since increased.
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Click here to read Iran Open Data’s article in Persian.
Founded in 2016, Iran Open Data (IOD) strives to make Iran’s official data accessible, available and re-usable. Not only does IOD collect and process raw datasets for researchers and experts, it also publishes exclusive data-driven articles and digital stories for the general public. Additionally, IOD conducts public data calls and surveys on often neglected or taboo issues that are rarely addressed by the government. Follow IOD for all the data-stories concerning Iran.
