Health Minister’s Resignation: From Budget to Health Transformation Plan

The Deputy Minister of Health says Dr. Hashemi’s resignation is not limited to next year’s budget amount, but also relates to drug purchases, medical equipment, and social security debts. The health minister’s resignation two weeks ago has not yet been officially announced.

Hasan Qazi-Zadeh Hashemi’s departure from the Ministry of Health has not yet been officially announced, but various sources confirm it. He wrote his resignation letter 15 days ago, but the news was reported by media two days ago. The Entekhaab news agency quotes an “informed source” saying that on Monday morning, December 10, at the end of a meeting of the Ministry of Health’s deputy council, he bid them farewell and went to visit a disability care facility.

Other sources, whose names were not mentioned, told “Entekhaab” that the government has accepted this resignation and is looking for a candidate to lead the Ministry of Health.

Tasnim news agency, citing Behrouz Boniadi, a member of parliament’s health and treatment commission, wrote: “It seems the health minister’s resignation claim is true because the Ministry of Health’s public relations office has not denied it.”

The parliamentarian said that Qazi-Zadeh did not resign solely due to reduced health and treatment allocations, and if his decision is serious, he will explain his reasons.

Ali-Akbar Haqdoost, Deputy Minister of Health, presented a list of the ministry’s financial problems and told IRNA: “Disagreements have arisen, which of course are not limited only to the budget issue, and the main issue relates to other matters including the health transformation plan. Because the resources that should be allocated to the health transformation plan, whether in the field of health insurance or in the Ministry of Health, have not been sufficient and timely. Although it should be said that the health transformation plan budget only covers about 20 percent of the Ministry of Health’s budget.”

Haqdoost pointed to problems such as the failure to pay retirement bonuses, purchasing drugs and medical equipment, and social security debts.

The Deputy Minister of Strategic Planning and Coordination at the Ministry of Health added that according to calculations by the Ministry of Health, the health insurance organization, and the planning and budget organization, 16 trillion tomans were supposed to be allocated to the health insurance organization, but in the 1398 budget bill it was reduced to 12 trillion tomans. He stressed that some pharmaceutical manufacturing companies are on the brink of bankruptcy due to delayed insurance payments, and if the production of these companies stops, the Ministry of Health will be forced to import drugs at very high costs.

In the latest reports, Tasnim news agency, confirming Qazi-Zadeh’s resignation, cited the cause as the failure to allocate budgets for drug supply and medical equipment. Tasnim reported that Mahmoud Vaezi, the chief of staff of Rouhani, attempted to convince Qazi-Zadeh to stay, but the health minister insisted that the budget for drug and medical equipment supply must be provided.

Hasan Qazi-Zadeh Hashemi was among the controversial ministers in Rouhani’s cabinet. He owns a specialized ophthalmology clinic and is an active presence on social media, and his sarcastic behavior toward low-income patients occasionally becomes the subject of discussion. In early September 2018, while visiting a deprived area, he advised a middle-aged man who complained about the inability to pay his wife’s expensive physiotherapy costs: “Do it yourself.”

Source: DW