150 political and civil activists: The healthcare system has reached the brink of collapse due to privatization

About 150 political and trade union activists, artists, and journalists inside and outside Iran criticized the government's policy in dealing with the spread of the coronavirus, writing that "various forms of discrimination have exacerbated the lack of access to treatment and health facilities, and the health system, weakened by privatization, has reached the brink of collapse."

According to the group, the necessary preparations were not made to deal with the widespread threat of Corona to public health, and insufficient measures were subsequently taken to contain it.

Referring to the official statistics announced by the Islamic Republic, the signatories of the statement added: "Almost everyone agrees that the government has concealed information about the disease and has failed to manage the resulting crisis."

According to official statistics announced by the Islamic Republic, the number of coronavirus victims in Iran has reached 2,757 as of Monday, and the total number of coronavirus patients has reached 41,495. In this regard, the Iranian Ministry of Health does not separately announce the number of people who have been infected with coronavirus or who have lost their lives due to coronavirus in different provinces.

The World Health Organization has previously stated that the official number of cases in Iran may be only one-fifth of the true number.

Statistics that Radio Farda has so far collected from scattered statements from local officials and Ministry of Health sources indicate that 66,657 people have been hospitalized or monitored in 31 provinces of Iran due to clinical symptoms of coronavirus.

These statistics also show that 4,298 people have lost their lives in 31 provinces of Iran.

The statement by 150 political and trade union activists, referring to the "short-term and structural recklessness in dealing with the crisis," states: "Years of implementing economic adjustment policies have painted a deplorable situation before us. Among other things, millions of workers have been sent home in poverty, without unemployment insurance and no other source of income, and street vendors have effectively lost their jobs."

The signatories of the statement added: "The colbars, who have already been victims of cold and bullets, have been deprived of this dangerous profession, and those who are still working do not have the slightest means and facilities to protect against disease."

At the same time, in describing the conditions in the prisons, they wrote that prisoners spend their time in prison in the shadow of death.

According to dozens of signatories to the statement, in these circumstances, service and health workers are deprived of minimal protection and job security.

In another part of the statement, considering the worsening of the situation, they called for "a halt to work in all non-essential sectors and paid leave for employees with underlying diseases in other sectors, conducting comprehensive testing for the diagnosis of coronavirus, and public monitoring, mediated by independent institutions and media, of the management of the coronavirus crisis, its spread statistics, and the allocation of resources and aid."

"Allocation of a basic income for all those who are in quarantine or do not have enough income to meet basic needs, free universal insurance, and provision of health protective equipment for workers in the food production and distribution and health and treatment sectors," are other demands of the signatories of the statement.

"Strict adherence to health standards in prisons, rehabilitation centers, and addiction treatment camps, housing the homeless in empty homes and public places, and granting special facilities for paying rent and electricity, water, and gas costs" are other demands of these political and civil activists.

Among the signatories of the statement are Nemat Azram, Amir Abbas Azramvand, Anisha Asadollahi, Forough Asadpour, Mehrdad Emami, Azam Bahrami, Abed Tavanche, Amir Javaheri Langroodi, Reza Hajihosseini, Mohsen Hakimi, Mina Khani, Mazdak Daneshvar, Faraj Sarkouhi, and Abbas Samakar.

Fatemeh Sadeghi, Parviz Sedaghat, Naser Zarafshan, Behrouz Farahani, Morad Farhadpour, Kaveh Qureshi, Sepideh Gholian, Parviz Gholichkhani, Farshin Kazeminia, Ali Keshtgar, Ammar Goli, Mohammad Malejoo, Kamran Matin, Hassan Mortazavi, Akbar Masoombeigi, Shahram Mosulchi, Baqer Momeni, Maryam Vahidian, and Nasrin Hazare Moghadam are also among the other signatories of the statement.

Source: Radio Farda