Drug Importers Union: Drug shortage is due to Ministry of Health interference
Following the publication of news about the shortage of various types of medicines in some cities and provinces, the vice president of the Medicine Importers Union announced that the main reason for this was the interference and strict control of the Ministry of Health.
Mojtaba Borbour told the ILNA news agency on Tuesday, February 16: "The Ministry of Health's overly strict policies have caused current problems and shortages, so much so that the Ministry of Health has taken matters into its own hands in the area of distribution."
This situation comes at a time when, according to Mr. Borbour, the Ministry of Health and the Food and Drug Administration have also stopped providing statistics on the supply of medicines, and "transparency has decreased."
The vice president of the Drug Importers Union also stated that drugs in Iran are either manufactured goods or produced domestically with imported raw materials, adding: "The shortages that exist in the market today come from both directions."
This pharmaceutical market activist had previously called the claims of some government officials about self-sufficiency in domestic production of raw materials for medicines a "lie" and said, "80 to 90 percent of these materials are imported into the country from India and China."
Regarding the role of the Ministry of Health in the shortage of medicines, the Medicine Importers Union also says, "Previously, if a hundred goods were given to distribution companies, now the Ministry of Health says that they must be given to places determined by the ministry, and such an approach can disrupt the balance of supply and demand and cause access problems."
The increase in the price of medicine, the shortage and unavailability of some items at different times, and the creation of a black market for them in recent months have faced many patients and their families with many problems.
Meanwhile, rumors about the possibility of eliminating the 4,200-toman currency allocation in the 2014 budget bill have caused the prices of many pharmaceutical items to jump again.
Source: Radio Farda
