A Parliamentary Representative: Drug Shortage in Iran Approaching ‘Crisis Status’

A member of the Iranian Parliament’s Health and Treatment Commission expressed concern over the non-implementation of the “drug currency transfer to insurance” plan, stating that only in the Sizdah-e Aban pharmacy, which is the country’s main drug supply source, a shortage of 356 drug items is evident, and the pharmaceutical industry is on the brink of shutdown.

Abdolhossein Rouholamin on Wednesday, the 15th of Tir month, warned in a consultative meeting that the drug shortage in Iran has approached a “crisis status,” and if this trend continues, the country will face a “severe shortage” of medicines.

This parliamentary representative recalled that despite the allocation of a budget of 80 thousand billion tomans, the “resolution to transfer drug currency to insurance companies remains unimplemented” and “the government is not heeding the warnings.”

He added that “the deputies of the (health) minister are not accountable” and even in the case of impeachment threats, “nothing gets resolved.”

Mr. Rouholamin also, criticizing the performance of former and current health ministers, stated that all of them “should be tried for failing to implement general health policies.”

In late Khordad of this year, the Pharmaceutical Industries Syndicate had warned in a letter to Ebrahim Raisi, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, about the shutdown of production lines from the month of Tir.

In Farvardin of the current year and following the controversy over the removal of preferential drug currency, Radio Farda published a report on the drug market in Iran in which people spoke of the consequences of removing drug currency, including shortage and price increase.

Source: Radio Farda