Lack of adequate nurses in hospitals is hindering the provision of quality nursing care, says Mohammad Mirza Beigi, deputy director for nursing services at the Health Ministry. “At present, the ratio of nurses per hospital bed is only 0.4, since nearly 40,000 trained nurses have quit the profession due to the low wages,” ISNA quoted him as saying. After the implementation of the Health Reform Plan in 2014, around 17,000 nurses were hired. In the second half of the current fiscal year (started March 20) nearly 10,000 assistant nurses will be employed at state-run hospitals. Beigi hoped that the measure would help improve the quality of nursing services.
