Coronavirus in Iran: 198 More Deaths, Healthcare Costs Have Become ‘Backbreaking’
Iran’s Ministry of Health announced that 198 more people died from coronavirus in the past 24 hours. The deputy health minister stated that healthcare costs for households and the government in fighting coronavirus have become “backbreaking.”
Sima Lari, spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Health, announced on Thursday, July 16 that with the death of 198 more coronavirus patients, the official death toll from the disease reached 13,608 people.
In the past 24 hours, 2,500 new COVID-19 patients were identified in the country, with 1,914 of them hospitalized.
With today’s figures, the official number of coronavirus cases in Iran has reached 267,061 people.
According to Ms. Lari, currently 3,471 COVID-19 patients are under intensive care due to their critical condition.
Iran’s Ministry of Health is announcing daily statistics of coronavirus infections and deaths even as serious doubts persist about their accuracy.
Independent sources based on vital statistics and cemetery records report deaths from coronavirus in Iran at multiples of the official figures.
Iran’s Health Ministry spokesperson also announced that, like previous days, the provinces of East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan, Ilam, Bushehr, Razavi Khorasan, Khuzestan, Zanjan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Golestan, Mazandaran, and Hormozgan are in red alert status.
According to this report, the provinces of Tehran, Fars, Ardabil, Isfahan, Alborz, South Khorasan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Kerman, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Lorestan, Hamadan, Yazd, and North Khorasan are also in warning status.
Health Ministry Deputy’s Concern Over Coronavirus Costs
Meanwhile, Iraj Harirchi, deputy head of the Ministry of Health, described the costs to Iranian households regarding coronavirus as “backbreaking” and said that healthcare costs for Iranian households “have risen from 3.7 percent to approximately 8 percent.”
Mr. Harirchi added: “In rural households, this indicator has increased from 4.9 to 12.9 percent, and in households with members over 60 years old, this indicator rises to 12.3 percent.”
During the coronavirus outbreak, direct costs such as testing and imaging expenses before diagnosis, treatment of patients in inpatient and outpatient departments and intensive care units, home care for patients, provision of personal protective equipment, procurement of medicines from the open and informal market in some households, and self-medication have been added to household expenses.
The Health Ministry deputy also, noting that coronavirus has imposed and will impose heavy costs on Iran’s healthcare system, added: “In Esfand (when we suffered from a shortage of protective equipment and were forced to procure from the open market), for each day of care for one COVID-19 patient, we spent only 700,000 tomans just for protective clothing.”
Mr. Harirchi, in another part of his remarks, referred to patients’ need for oxygen and said: “Before the coronavirus outbreak, it was predicted that at most 10 to 15 percent of patients would need oxygen, but more than 95 percent of patients hospitalized in hospitals need oxygen.”
According to the Health Ministry deputy, the price of each oxygen generator is currently around 1 billion and 700 million tomans.
Source: Radio Farda
