Iran’s Covid-19 death rates are rising rapidly, the pandemic has also had overwhelming effects on the lives of the Iranian people, not just economically but psychologically. Along with their own discussion, they also highlighted statistics and observations from some of the state-run dailies.
A report recently published by the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare indicated that the health and other living expenses of families increased again in August, increasing the inflation rate.
According to the Jahan-e Sanat daily, ‘this is the first time that the cost of treatment has increased so much, along with the cost of rent and transportation’. They explained in their publication that since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, health insurance companies are barely covering much of the treatment costs in hospitals in Iran, so people are being forced to pay up to 40% of the cost out of their own pockets.
Meanwhile, many families that are crushed under poverty have lost their breadwinners.
Statistics from the Deputy Minister of Social Welfare suggest that a child is orphaned due to the pandemic every 12 seconds in the world and in Iran alone, estimates are that 51,000 children have lost both parents to Covid-19 in the past year. However, social expert Mostafa Eghlima has said that the actual number is higher than the official figures. He said, “Probably 30,000 women went to welfare as heads of households, and the same 30,000 women have at least one or two children.”
Worryingly, the suicide rate in Iran has been rising year after year. Figures given by a member of the Board of the Scientific Society for Suicide Prevention in Iran say that the average rate is around 7.02% per 100,000 people but some provinces in the country range between 10 and 20%.
Reports from Iran indicate that the suicide rate has increased due to the Covid-19 outbreak and its resulting poverty. The suicide rate among Iranian nurses and medical professionals is rapidly rising, and more frustrated health experts express their desire to commit suicide.
Despite all the hard work that Iranian medical professionals have put in for the past year, the regime is refusing to increase their salaries and some of their wages have been delayed for months. Iranian doctors and nurses are becoming more and more frustrated as imports of vaccines are being blocked, as are imports of necessary medications and specialist equipment. All the while, the pandemic is wreaking havoc in the country.
According to Fariborz Dortaj, a member of the Central Council of the Iranian Psychological System Organization, “38% of nurses suffer from moderate to severe depression, and 37.5% have thought of suicide or were ready to commit suicide.”
The Covid-19 outbreak, coupled with the regime’s corruption and wrong economic policies, has also had a devastating effect on people’s financial situation.
Etemad daily explained that in late 2019, during the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak, the statistics ratio between the minimum wage of a worker to the average cost of a household was around 37.9 percent, while less than two years later, this has reduced to 35.3%.
This crisis could have been prevented if the regime, mainly the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, had used his financial empire to help Iranians and medical professionals or at least allowed the entry of vaccines.
