Social media users react to the removal of the drug's preferential currency: "Public murder" is intentional

ArminMarch 28, 2022

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Emphasizing the removal of the 4,200-toman preferential currency clause for medicines this year, the Iranian Minister of Health stated that government assistance to companies importing medicines will no longer continue.

Bahram Einollahi said on Sunday, April 27, that the 1401 budget of the Ebrahim Raisi government did not include a place for preferential currency, saying: "This year, preferential currency has been removed in the issue of medicine, and companies are no longer waiting to receive raw materials in preferential currency."

Providing preferential exchange rates to drug importers was one of the strategies used by previous governments to lower the prices of imported drugs within the country, especially for certain drugs.

Bahram Einollahi, who is himself a critic of this plan, had previously opposed this issue and said: "Preferential currency is corrupt and should be eliminated. By eliminating this currency, the cost of medicines will be paid to the people by insurance."

Previously, some had warned about the increase in drug prices following the removal of the preferential currency for drugs. Hani Havilzadeh, head of the Association of Milk Powder Producers, had stated in a letter to the Director General of Food and Beverage Affairs of the Food and Drug Organization that the removal of the preferential currency would increase the price of milk powder raw materials by 5 to 7 times. Meanwhile, some experts believe that the removal of the 4,200-toman currency will bankrupt insurance companies. Meanwhile, others believe that this measure will increase double the pressure on patients and drug consumers in the country.

In response to the news, civil activist Leila Hosseinzadeh tweeted: "This is an act of (blatant and deliberate) mass murder! The sick in this country are the most powerless population possible, and now we are officially being sent to the gas chamber."

Journalist Fariborz Kalantari also implicitly criticized the lack of consideration behind this decision, pointing out the government and parliament's opposition to eliminating the preferential currency for medicines.

Somayeh Abbasi, a Twitter user, also described the procedure as "Hossein Qolikhani's statecraft," citing the time-consuming process of receiving preferential currency as the reason for its removal, and the lack of a logical procedure to resolve the problems.

The news of the removal of preferential currency for importing medicine comes at a time when reports from various regions of Iran in recent months indicate that a number of pharmacies are facing a shortage of medicine.

The head of the Food and Drug Administration of Iran said in late February: "The drug shortages for the next month are 50 types of drugs and for the next 3 months, there will be 190 types of drugs."

This is while Mojtaba Borbour, vice president of the Drug Importers Union, told the Iranian Labor News Agency on February 16, emphasizing that "there is currently a shortage of manufactured drugs in the country," adding: "Previously, the Ministry of Health and the Food and Drug Administration used to provide statistics on the supply level, but recently this issue has stopped and transparency has decreased."

This is while, in the latest reaction, Ehsan Arkani, a member of the Parliament's Consolidation Commission, said, "The Parliament is not aware of the elimination of the preferential currency for medicine, and it is unlikely that the Ministry of Health has provided the necessary infrastructure for the 4,200-toman currency in this short period of time."

Reports indicate that in addition to specific drugs, the import of raw materials for many drugs in Iran is highly dependent on preferential exchange rates, and according to claims by many stakeholders, about 80 to 90 percent of imported raw materials for drugs are imported into Iran from India and China.

Source: Voice of America

Armin

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