Ghobad Moradi, head of the Center for Communicable Disease Control at the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Health, stated that approximately 200,000 people in Iran are infected with hepatitis C.
On Sunday, March 30, in an interview with the state-run ILNA news agency, Moradi discussed the number of hepatitis C cases in the country, stating: “Our estimate is that fewer than 200,000 people in the country are infected with hepatitis C.”
He added: “If we can identify and treat these individuals, we can significantly reduce the prevalence of this disease.”
Iranian Regime MP Warns About Intensified Medicine Shortages
Earlier, in January 2025, Rashid Ramazani, head of the Hepatitis Disease Monitoring Unit at Iranian regime’s Ministry of Health, noted that around 200,000 people in the country have hepatitis C and reported that 204 people die from the disease annually.
Ramazani pointed out that 30% of hepatitis C cases occur among “injecting drug users,” making this group the most affected by the disease.
The Ministry of Health official noted that the most common route of hepatitis C transmission is through contaminated blood. He added that hepatitis B and C viruses are the leading causes of chronic liver disease, which can lead to cirrhosis, liver cancer, and death.
In another part of his interview with ILNA, Moradi mentioned that vaccination programs involve many details, stating: “For example, the hepatitis B vaccination program is gradually bringing our country to a level where we can hope to obtain certification for the elimination of mother-to-child hepatitis B transmission.”
In March 2025, reports surfaced about contaminated blood transfusions in thalassemia centers in Sistan and Baluchestan province, leading to the infection of dozens of patients with hepatitis C.
Salman Es’haghi, spokesperson for the Health Commission in the regime’s Majlis (parliament), reacted to the issue on March 10, stating that tests conducted on 323 patients out of 1,200 thalassemia patients under the supervision of Chabahar University of Medical Sciences in Sistan and Baluchestan province confirmed that 113 individuals were infected with the hepatitis C virus.
According to Es’haghi, a single unit of blood was simultaneously transfused to two or even three thalassemia patients on the same hospital bed.
He denied that the blood used for thalassemia patients was contaminated but did not explain the cause of their hepatitis C infections.
