Faces a rising number of Covid-19 cases and an overwhelming rate of deaths due to the pandemic, the Iranian regime continues to ban vaccine imports and hoard medicines meant to treat those afflicted.
Government officials have blamed medicine shortages on overcrowded pharmacies. The reality, however, is that hoarding by the drug mafia in Iran has prevented patients from accessing necessary medications.
According to a report from the IRNA news agency from August 15, at least 18 tons of the medication used to treat Covid-19 patients are awaiting clearance at the airport. The report, states that “more than four tons of raw materials for Favipiravir, 800 kilograms of Betadex raw materials and more than 13 tons of Remdesivir have been stored in the relevant cold storages.”
However, custom statistics have revealed that a shipment of 200,000 packages of 100mg syringes of Remdesivir remains stuck at customs, waiting for a decision from the Health Ministry as to when and where they’ll be distributed.
Also, in ports and docks, medicine is stored in large quantities. However, they become scarce and expensive in the market. One of the rare and expensive medicines is now the ones needed to treat black fungus caused by covid.
Jamejam online reported that Iran is facing a serious shortage of fungal infection medication, Amphotericin B. Due to an increase in cases of black fungus caused by Covid-19, demand for the drug in the Iranian market has risen dramatically.
While the drugs being used to treat covid patients are helping, the medication and corticosteroids they are being given have been found to have more side effects than Covid-19 itself. The head of Yas Hospital in Tehran said, “More than half of the deaths of covid patients are due to the side effects of the drugs that are prescribed.”
Mardomsalari, a state-run daily, wrote in their publication that the regime attempted to procure 60 million Sputnik vaccine doses. In the end, only 900,000 doses were imported into Iran, all of which were only given to ‘certain sections of the society.
From the very beginning of this pandemic, this entity opposed the import of vaccines and regularly promised to produce millions of doses of indigenous vaccines. It is now clear that these domestic vaccines are not very effective, and at the same time, the regime is plundering the Iranian people by storing drugs in customs and leaking them to the black market.
The Executive Headquarters of Khomeini’s Order is said to be Iran’s largest economic cartel. With the regime’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei in control, and the regime’s First Vice President, Mohammad Mokhber supervising, the Order controls the production and import of pharmaceuticals.
Up to 96 percent of Iranians live below the poverty line and struggle daily to make ends meet. For these people, purchasing medicine has become impossible, leaving millions of Iranians fighting to survive during this terrible pandemic.
The people blame the regime and Khamenei for the current extremely critical situation, an issue that has recently prompted government officials to justify Khamenei’s orders to distance him from public anger and hatred.
