While the Iranian regime’s officials, under the orders of the regime’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, are trying to compel society to have more children through the adoption of various laws and incentive policies, they have still failed to provide an adequate supply of infant formula, the primary source of nutrition for infants.
On Tuesday, Sajjad Esmaili, the advisor to the head of the Food and Drug Organization, announced the entry of the first shipment of imported infant formula. This comes after several industry experts had previously warned of the shortage and “rationing” of infant formula, describing the situation as critical.
According to the semi-official ISNA news agency, citing Esmaili, the distribution program for infant formula, based on the adjusted birth rate for 2023, has been communicated to all provincial food and drug departments, and these departments are tasked to monitor and conduct field inspections. In addition, all infant formula distributors have been instructed to distribute infant formula even on holidays.
This Ministry of Health official has promised that “approximately four million cans of infant formula” will be imported within the next two weeks. However, ISNA news agency reported that “four million cans of infant formula have already been imported from Turkey and will be distributed within the next two weeks.”
Esmaili attributed the shortage of infant formula in recent months to currency problems and stated that “the currency problems have been resolved” and producers have “entered the market with seriousness and increased their production.”
While the Deputy of the Food and Drug Organization has stated that the infant formula crisis will be resolved soon, Abdulhussein Rouh-al-amini, a member of the Majlis (parliament) Health and Treatment Commission, announced on Tuesday the promises of officials regarding infant formula and the disagreement between the Food and Drug Organization and the settlement of previous currency accounts.
Rouh-al-amini discussed the currency disputes between infant formula producers and the Food and Drug Organization in a television program. According to this lawmaker, infant formula producers attributed the crisis to the lack of necessary foreign exchange resources. Rouh-al-amini also claimed that the production capacity of infant formula in Iran is over 100 million cans, and the demand and consumption are 60 to 70 million cans, which have even been exported to neighboring countries in recent years.
Alongside the statements made by officials from the Ministry of Health and the Food and Drug Organization, Alireza Salem, a member of the High Council of Pharmacies and the Secretary of the Association of Pharmaceutical Employers of Tehran Province, referred to the critical conditions of infant formula supply in Iran and told the regime’s online newsletter Faraz that “in many pharmacies, the receipt and provision of infant formula are done with the national identification card, and the shortage of infant formula compared to previous years is strongly felt.”
According to Salem, infant formula “is either not available on the shelves or, if available, it is unpopular.” He attributed the main cause of the shortage of medicine and infant formula to the pricing policy of the Pricing Commission.
According to this Iranian regime official, the government’s foreign exchange allocation is only for the “active ingredient of medicine.” Salem emphasized in this interview that “a medicine does not consist of only the active ingredient, and it has production costs, packaging, transportation, etc. The [government allocated foreign currency] does not cover these costs.”
Following reports of the scarcity of infant formula in Iran, the Food and Drug Organization, a subsidiary of the Ministry of Health of the Islamic Republic, announced that as of October 12, the sales of infant formula in pharmacies in Iran would only be possible with the presentation of the infant’s national identification code. Some sources have referred to this measure as “rationing of infant formula.”
