Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei meets with Iranian nurses and the families of martyred health workers who lost their lives in the fight against COVID-19 on the occasion of the National Nurse Day which is celebrated each year on the birth anniversary of Hazrat Zaynab (PBUH).
During the meeting, Ayatollah Khamenei congratulated the birth anniversary of Hazrat Zaynab, the daughter of the first Shia Imam, Imam Ali (PBUH).
Ayatollah Khamenei said that the arrogant powers’ joy at the suffering of the Iranian people has been manifested in events such as helping former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein gas Iranian troops and border towns and imposing a “medical embargo on the Iranian nation”.
US sanctions have prevented Iran from getting the necessary medicine and equipment to fight against the virus, forcing the country to resort to its own resources to tackle the problem.
Food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies are exempt from US sanctions imposed on Tehran in 2018 after President Donald Trump walked away from a 2015 international deal over Iran’s nuclear program.
But the US measures, which target all sectors including oil and financial activities, have deterred foreign banks from processing financial transactions with Iran. Tehran says this has frequently disrupted efforts to import essential medicines and other humanitarian items.
“Given these facts, when nurses, with effort and self-sacrifice, put a smile on the lips of patients and their loved ones, they are in fact struggling against the malicious world of arrogance. This is the double value of the nursing community in Islamic Iran,” the Leader said.
The coronavirus pandemic, however, "showed that if the nursing community is not strengthened, we will be hit hard", Ayatollah Khamenei added.
Ayatollah Khamenei said the nature of nursing - that is observing the suffering of patients and caring for them around the clock - is bitter and harsh.
“In some junctures, such as the period of the Sacred Defense or the coronavirus, these difficulties have multiplied,” he said, referring to Saddam’s 1980-1988 war on Iran.
Ayatollah Khamenei said the sacrifices of the Iranian nurses merit to be recorded through art.
“With regard to narrating the difficulties of the work of nurses, we have a dearth of artistic production. These have artistic themes or in the language of art, they have dramatic themes. They can be used to make attractive art programs. Artists should come to the arena,” he said.
“You should recount the truths of your society, your country and your revolution. If you do not recount them, the enemy will do it. If you do not chronicle the revolution, the enemy will do it. If you do not narrate the incident of the Sacred Defense, the enemy will do it in whatever way it likes, making its own justification to tell lies and change the place of the oppressor and the oppressed.”
The Leader also paid tribute to women, saying they can be "a huge ocean of patience" and the "pinnacle of wisdom and prudence" at the same time.
Sayyida Zainab, he said, was able to show the great spiritual and intellectual capacity of women to the world.
“Sayyida Zainab, peace be upon her, showed two points: First, a woman can be a huge ocean of patience and second, a woman can be the pinnacle of wisdom and prudence.”
Zaynab Bint Ali (PBUH), daughter of Ali ibn Abi Talib (PBUH) and Fatimah al-Zahra (PBUH), was the first granddaughter of the prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
She is best known for her courageous and eloquent role in supporting her brother, the second Shia Imam Hussein, at the time of his martyrdom in the Battle of Karbala, and for protecting his family in the following months of Umayyad imprisonment.
In Iran, Hazrat Zaynab's birthday is commemorated as Nurse's Day due to her efforts and sacrifices to take care of children such as Imam Hussein’s son Ali Zayn al-Abidin and those wounded in the Battle of Karbala.
Earlier in the meeting, Iran's Health Minister Bahram Einollahi appreciated the great work that nurses have done in containing the spread of deadly diseases, saying that Iran has provided 174 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine so far and 86 percent of the population has received the first shot.
74 percent of Iran's population has also taken the second jab of the coronavirus vaccine, according to Einollahi.
From among the total supply of vaccines, 150 million doses have been purchased from foreign sources and 24 million doses have been provided through domestic vaccine developers, as said by the minister.
MNA/5373499/ PressTV
Your Comment