A video showing a nurse being beaten up by a doctor in a private hospital in Shiraz, has elicited protests by the Iran’s Nursing Organization, an officially recognized professional council.

Radio Farda cannot verify the authenticity of the video circulated on social media related to the incident, but a representative of the nursing group in Shiraz has said that a neurosurgeon after speaking on the phone from home with a nurse at the intensive care unit, came to the hospital and began beating the nurse in charge of the shift.

According to the same source, the beating continued for twenty minutes until the police arrived.

Mohammad Sharifi Moghaddam, a national representative of nurses has told Iran’s Mehr news agency that this was not the only incident of violence against nurses.

In another case, the family of a patient attacked and beat up a nurse in a government hospital. This has led to “deep concern and anxiety” among nurses nationwide, he said.

Nurses in Iran work under difficult circumstances as medical services face budgetary problems and the nursing workforce is understaffed.

IRNA says the Medical Science University in Shiraz, which is responsible for the private hospital where the incident took place, has not commented yet.