Sanctions hit Iranian medical supplies hard

Diabetes, cancer and rare diseases patients suffering the most

Iranian diabetic Parviz Sadeghi, 49, appears closer to 70, with deep wrinkles around his eyes and sunken cheeks, testifying to shortages at a time of intensifying medical crisis.

After a six-hour wait, he is relieved but exhausted as he emerges from a pharmacy in the capital Tehran with insulin — an increasingly scarce necessity, as US sanctions bite.

“I’ve been a diabetic for nearly 10 years,” the out-of-work labourer said.

“Before ... you’d go to any pharmacy and they’d give it to you, but now you have to go to 1,000 places,” he lamented, after spending a week trudging from one dispensary to another.

Iranians had been hit by low medicine supplies even before the new coronavirus broke out in the central city of Qom and spread, claiming several lives and fostering panic amid a lack of face masks.

The medical shortages kicked in after the US pulled out of a landmark nuclear deal and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran in 2018.

Washington had exempted humanitarian goods, especially medicines and medical equipment from its punitive measures. But international purchases of such supplies are forestalled by banks being wary of conducting any business with Iran, for fear of falling foul of sanctions themselves.

This in turn has worsened the acute shortage of medicines and led to skyrocketing prices, against the backdrop of an increasingly devalued rial.

“Insurance does cover this. That’s why I’ve been to 1,000 places since last Saturday to get them to approve this,” Sadeghi said. “They did accept eventually, but it took a long time.”

Health ministry spokesperson Kianoush Jahanpour said Iran was “today capable of producing more than 97%” of its needed medicine.

“We only import about 3% of the drugs we use, which is obviously just about new and hitech drugs,” he said.

But he admitted the country had been struggling to import “medicines for rare and special diseases” for about a year.

Located in the heart of Tehran, the “13 Aban” state-run pharmacy draws hordes of patients daily who queue for hours as it stocks and subsidises medicines for rare diseases.

Mohammad Rezaei, the deputy director of pharmacies attached to the Tehran University of Medical Sciences, said: “Insulin is one of the main medicines affected ... and our stocks of it along with other medicines are reducing with time.”

Alongside diabetics, cancer patients and people suffering from thalassaemia, a genetic blood disease common in the country, have been hit hard.

A new financial channel set up by Switzerland to facilitate humanitarian trade with Iran appears to have made little difference.

Meanwhile, some pharmacies continue to charge exorbitant black market rates to Iranians already reeling under recession and the plunging currency. —

We only import about 3% of the drugs we use, which is obviously just about new and hi-tech drugs