The distribution of medicine in Iran faces numerous challenges. Various governments promised to solve these issues at the beginning of their tenure, but the situation in this regard has not significantly changed. The main problem is the shortage and absence of certain drugs in pharmacies, leading to their sale in the free market.
A citizen commenting on the existing problems in the Iranian medicine distribution system says, “When there is no transparency, such a situation arises: out of 85 million population, we have 100 million insurance booklets! Some have multiple booklets and sell the medicine in the free market.”
On Wednesday, March 13, the regime’s Hame-Mihan newspaper reported on the country’s pharmaceutical market facing “intensified distribution restrictions and shortages,” highlighting the issue of drug leakage in the free market.
The report reads in part, “Pharmacies face shortages of specific drugs, but these same drugs are easily available in the free market.”
Sajad Ismaili, the spokesperson for the Food and Drug Organization, confirmed the existence of drug leakage, but reports in this area are “very limited.” He stated, “We have reports that some patients consume a small amount of their prescribed drugs and sell the rest in the free market.”
According to this official from the Food and Drug Organization, there are widespread examples of cancer patients’ drugs being offered on online platforms and social networks. Some patients purchase these drugs, and after sending them to the Food and Drug Organization, it is revealed that they are not effective and are fraudulent: “We confirm drugs obtained from pharmacies, and we are not responsible for drugs obtained through other channels.”
Simultaneously, according to Hame-Mihan’s report, the most common phrase heard in pharmacies is, “It is currently unavailable!”
With one week left until the start of the Iranian New Year on March 21, access to certain drugs has once again become difficult, a trend that, according to Hame-Mihan’s report, began several months ago. “Consumers of Warfarin are facing a shortage of the drug. Foreign insulins are sporadically found. Eye drops, graft medications, Thiamazole, Ritalin, and others are not exempt from the list of pharmacy shortages. Patients are connecting with numerous acquaintances to buy a few extra packages of the scarce drugs, further exacerbating the shortages.”
On January 21, Vahid Mahalati, the vice president of the Association of Pharmaceutical and Supplement Distribution Companies, stated that there would be an inherent shortage of drugs in the coming year. He said, “We are on the verge of a definite shortage of some drugs in the country, and if authorities do not have fundamental solutions in time, there will be a definite shortage of drugs.”
Mahalati, in a press conference on the pharmaceutical challenges of the country held at the Human Resources Drugs Syndicate, said, “By the end of this year, 62 billion units of drugs have been the country’s drug sales, 98.5% of which are domestically produced.”
He added that if any of these drugs face shortages, it will not be possible to import them.
According to the vice president of the Association of Pharmaceutical Distribution Companies, 860 trillion rials (approximately $1.444 billion) have been allocated for the implementation of the Drug Assistance Plan for the next year, and a maximum of 500 trillion rials (approximately $839.630 million) of it will be provided. “Despite this, there is an inherent shortage in the pharmaceutical sector.”
The Drug Assistance Plan was implemented in July 2022 with the slogan “Reforming Drug Subsidies” by the government of Ebrahim Raisi, but the plan faced serious problems from the beginning.
On January 19, Mohammad Ali Mousavi Bandpei, a member of the Health Commission of the Parliament, said that due to the shortage of drugs in the country, some citizens obtain expired drugs or drugs from the black market.
