Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi, the Iranian regime’s Minister of Health, Treatment, and Medical Education announced that the preferential currency for medicine will be removed starting next year.
Zafarghandi stated on Friday, November 29, that his ministry is preparing and planning to manage this change.
This comes after the Central Bank had claimed in September to have provided $1.5 billion in preferential currency for “medicine and medical equipment” by September 9. Zafarghandi had previously declared that the preferential currency for medicine had been removed.
Earlier, the previous health minister had announced the removal of the preferential currency for medicine imports under a plan called “Daruyar” starting in 2022. However, Iranian officials have made contradictory statements regarding the allocation of the “42,000 rial” currency for medicine.
Currently, the exchange rate for the dollar in the free market is approximately 700,000 rials.
At that time, it was announced that instead of providing currency for medicine, an equivalent budget would be allocated to insurance companies to expand insurance coverage and eliminate the need for people to buy unsubsidized medicines.
However, in practice, this plan led to significant increases in the prices of many medicines, a crisis for pharmaceutical companies in importing raw materials, shortages of many medicines, and crippling out-of-pocket expenses for the public.
In recent months, following growing criticism of the medicine crisis, Mohammad Jafar Ghaem-Panah, the executive vice president and acting chief of the Presidential Institution, announced that regime president Massoud Pezeshkian had ordered the Central Bank governor to address the liquidity issues in procuring raw materials for pharmaceutical factories and importing medicine.
The next day, Mohammad Reza Farzin, the Central Bank governor, stated during a coordination meeting with officials from the Food and Drug Organization of the Ministry of Health and representatives of the pharmaceutical sector that the Central Bank had allocated financial facilities to resolve liquidity and currency issues for importing medicine, with a report on the matter subsequently published.
Nevertheless, representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and pharmaceutical companies have harshly criticized the Central Bank and the government in recent months for failing to allocate currency for essential goods, particularly medicine.
The critical medicine shortage has long reached alarming levels, with Mohammad Ali Bandpei, a member of the Health and Treatment Commission’s board, announcing months ago that the number of scarce medicines had exceeded 200 items.
Now, the Minister of Health has also acknowledged the medicine shortage but stated that medical supplies are monitored daily, and if a pharmacy lacks certain medicines, “patients will be referred to another pharmacy where the medicine is available if possible.”
Mohammad Reza Zafarghandi also noted that if shortages occur nationwide, it is due to a lack of raw materials or reduced production in factories, which will be addressed and rectified on a case-by-case basis.
He did not elaborate on the methods or strategies to address the shortage of raw materials and medicine across the country.
Domestic medicine production in Iran is also facing a crisis due to the lack of liquidity for procuring raw materials for manufacturing plants. According to the head of the Iranian Pharmacists’ Association, more than 60% of domestic medicine production is “low-quality.”
