While the economic pressure on patients suffering from “special and hard-to-treat” diseases has increased in Iran more than ever due to inflation and drug shortages, Saeed Karimi, the Deputy Minister of Health, Treatment, and Medical Education, has stated that only 25 percent of diseases are covered by the government.
Karimi stated that the “Special Diseases Fund” operates to cover some of the treatment expenses for these patients, but currently, only 107 out of 400 rare and special diseases in the country are covered by this fund.
Regarding the shortage of drugs for this group of patients, Karimi also mentioned that they announce the needs three months prior to the end of the year and indicate an additional 30 percent requirement, and the Food and Drug Organization is also working to provide these drugs.
This claim by the Deputy Minister of Health comes at a time when Heidar Mohammadi, the regime’s head of the Food and Drug Organization, stated on January 21, 2022, that the funds related to the subsidies for infant formula, deductible reduction cash handouts, and drugs for hard-to-treat diseases have significantly decreased and are even lower than the funds allocated for this year.
“Certainly, our supply in these areas faces difficulties,” Heidar Mohammadi said.
However, this warning ultimately manifested itself as a crisis in drug and infant formula supply in the country, and Fathollah Tavassoli, a member of the Parliamentary Economic Commission, stated in October, “The method of supplying drugs for special and hard-to-treat patients is wrong and has caused these patients and their families severe economic stress and problems.”
Fathollah Tavassoli emphasized that the situation is “worrisome,” but “with the adoption of appropriate and special measures,” the existing problems can be resolved.
This Majlis (parliament) member also rejected the claims of Iranian regime officials about the drugs being under sanctions and said, “The drugs are not under sanctions. Of course, there may be difficulties in the transfer of money, but the drugs are not under sanctions, and it is possible to proceed with the importation of drugs.”
Hamidreza Edraki, the CEO of the Rare Diseases Foundation, stated on October 18 to the state-run “Ham-Mihan” newspaper, “The problems in procuring drugs due to their high cost are distressing patients and their families to the extent that they are deviating from normal life to provide these drugs.”
Hamidreza Edraki emphasized, “Unfortunately, insurance covers a small percentage of the costs of purchasing these drugs, and a significant portion of these drugs is not covered, and supplementary insurances also cover a smaller percentage of them.”
The crisis of drug supply for this group of patients is even more complicated in smaller cities because access is less compared to the capital. In this regard, the head of the Supreme Council of Special and Hard-to-Treat Patients in Kermanshah, western Iran, considered the conditions of patients in this city critical and stated on May 22 that 40,000 patients from Kermanshah are officially members of associations for “special and hard-to-treat” patients, and their biggest problem is the shortage of drugs and the inactive status of the Red Crescent Pharmacy in Kermanshah.
The issues surrounding the availability of drugs in Iran are not of recent origin.
Even last year, patients faced difficulties in obtaining children’s flu syrups and simple drugs like antibiotics. This year, the crisis of drugs and infant formula has worsened, and it is predicted that with the onset of the cold and flu season in winter, the drug crisis will enter a new phase.
Despite the scarcity of drugs in public hospitals, all high-quality drugs were available on the black market at several times the price. Unfortunately, all the medicine in the public sector enters the black market through people with connections.
One of the problems that is causing the surge and fluctuation of the prices of medicine and medical equipment is the mafia-style management of the healthcare and medicine industry.
The import, production, and distribution of medicine is controlled by bands that have very close ties to regime officials and agencies. Regime-run organizations, including the Setad (controlled by regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei), the Social Security Investment Company, and Shafa Daru, control 70 percent of the medicine market.
These organizations control supplies and prices, and their only loyalty is their bottom line, not the people’s welfare.
Iran’s medicine smuggling network is so rampant and out of control that the amount of smuggled medicine has exceeded even the country’s official exports, according to a September 21, 2020, report by the Fars news agency.
Patients with special illnesses have come to bear the painful burden of inadequate medicine supply before anyone else in Iran. Now, with inflation and poverty running rampant, most of Iran’s society is reaching a point where they cannot pay for treatment if they have a serious illness.
Government-linked thieves and looters in Iran no longer consider any limits or boundaries on their smuggling and looting.
