The head of the Association of Producers, Suppliers, Distributors, and Exporters of Medical and Pharmaceutical Equipment of Tehran Province reported a “sevenfold surge” in medicine prices in Iran since the removal of preferential foreign exchange for medicines.
Alireza Chizari told the state-run ILNA news agency on Saturday, November 13: “We are currently witnessing a surge in the foreign exchange rate for medicines and medical equipment. In some cases, [the price of a medicine] has risen from four thousand and 200 tomans to 28 thousand and 500 tomans, which shows a sevenfold increase in medicine prices.”
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At present, the price of each U.S. dollar is around 1.25 million rials.
He added that this price increase has occurred while people’s incomes have not risen: “Except, of course, for 20% to 30% of society whose salaries increase every year.”
At the same time, Iraj Khosronia, head of the board of the Association of Internal Medicine Specialists, said in an interview with the state-run House of Economy website that with the removal of preferential foreign exchange for insulin, 30% to 50% of diabetics will not be able to afford this medicine.
According to him, nine million insulin-dependent patients will be exposed to the risk of heart and eye diseases following the removal of preferential foreign exchange.
Mohammadreza Zafarghandi, the Iranian regime’s minister of health, treatment, and medical education, announced in December 2024—when the issue of activating the snapback mechanism had not even been raised—the removal of preferential foreign exchange for medicines and medical equipment, saying that medicines would be imported using the NIMA exchange rate.
Following these remarks, and starting in January 2025, pharmaceutical companies increased the prices of their products by up to fivefold.
In February 2025, the Social Security Organization reported price increases for more than 400 medicines covered by the organization.
The removal of government foreign exchange for medicines and medical equipment in the 2025 budget bill revealed its effects starting in March 2025.
Criticism of the role of government institutions in the chaotic state of medicine supply
Chizari also blamed government institutions for the current “chaotic situation” in the field of medicines.
He said: “Regarding the transfer of foreign exchange for medicines and medical equipment, one of the subsidiaries of the Ministry of Oil has still been unable to pay foreign currency to international suppliers, creating a very bad situation.”
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The trade official did not name the state-owned company but added that the company had pledged to reduce its debt to the Central Bank to zero by November.
Chizari emphasized: “50% of the current problems in the field of medicines and medical equipment stem from the performance of this very company.”
According to him, insurance claims in some cases have been overdue for nine months, and some medical centers have been in debt for more than two years.
Exhaustion of emergency reserves of medicines for hemophilia patients
The state-run ILNA news agency, quoting Amin Afshar, head of the board of the Iranian Hemophilia Society, reported the “exhaustion of emergency reserves of medicines for hemophilia patients.”
Afshar said: “Our patients are on the brink of a serious, life-threatening crisis. The emergency reserves of the comprehensive hemophilia clinic’s pharmacy for some vital items have been depleted, and this means that if replacement supplies do not begin immediately, the likelihood of losing the lives of a significant number of patients is completely real and serious.”
