Poverty in Iran is causing increasingly widespread repercussions. In the latest case, Sajjad Ahmadi, the Deputy of Development, Management, and Resources at the Imam Reza Educational and Medical Center in the city of Tabriz (northwest Iran), stated that an average of 150 cases of emergency escapes are registered and documented in this hospital on a monthly basis.
Low-income individuals who seek medical care at the hospital flee because they are unable to afford the treatment costs.
According to a report by the regime’s Statistical Center in October 2023 on the expenditure and income status of Iranian households, healthcare expenses accounted for approximately 9.1% of the urban household expenditure basket in the previous year, ranking third after housing and fuel, as well as food and tobacco.
In a report on the government-published statistics, the news website Khabar Online also emphasized that visiting hospitals and treatment centers can result in “high costs for recovery and treatment.”
The news website stated that in recent years, with the increase in inflation rates in Iran, healthcare expenses have also risen to the extent that many families cannot afford to pay for them.
The published statistics indicate that the economic class divide has reached its highest level in healthcare.
Some analysts believe that higher-income individuals spend more money on healthcare while lower-income individuals spend less due to inflation, recession, reduced production, and ongoing sanctions.
Officials from the Ministry of Health of the Iranian regime repeatedly promised in the summer of 2022 that with the implementation of a plan known as “Darouyar” (Medicine Provider), the drug shortage would be reduced to a “minimum” after two to three months, and drug prices would become “realistic.” However, these promises were not fulfilled, and in addition to the significant increase in drug prices, some items became scarce or even unavailable.
However, the main cause behind the rising price of medicine is the endemic corruption that the regime has inflicted in Iran’s healthcare and medicine industries.
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.
Local reports indicate that there’s no shortage of medicine in Iran’s black market. But the prices are so high that most people can’t afford them.
While regime officials acknowledge the existence of the medicine mafia, they have so far done nothing to stop it, simply because their own organizations are deeply enmeshed in this corrupt network.
