Officially humanitarian goods from the US are the exception-the sanctions to make the Iranian economy as a whole. De facto however, the drug supply was also badly hit.
So Washington has imposed mid-October, new sanctions against 20 Iranian companies and banks because of their ties to the Islamic revolutionary guards. Among the banks affected, Bank Parsian, which had been a key function in the handling of importing of medicines and agricultural products.
Since the United States withdrawal from the nuclear deal, rule, Chaos have announced, on the drugs market, says Nazi from Tehran on the phone. The 44-year-old housewife and mother suffers from multiple sclerosis. Their drugs are become in Iran, nearly, once again. “You would no longer imported, I have heard in several pharmacies,” she told Deutsche Welle.
In the past year, Iran had a foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at the world day of multiple sclerosis Affected in his country to know, that thanks to the nuclear agreement, the difficult times are over. “Their medicines can now be imported again,” said Zarif at that time.
Special medications from a Western production are scarce
Informal Channels
Iran produces more than ninety percent of his medications. But the import of raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry and of specialty drugs is complicated by the financial sanctions. Already four months ago, the Iranian health Minister, Hashemi warned that “A storm is coming. We must tell the people the truth.” The Deputy Mohammad Naaim Aminifard was in the middle of September the health Committee: “More than 80 medicines are now scarce. No one can deny that we are suffering drug shortages.”
Hundreds of recipes piling up for weeks at Solmaz Eikder. The Iranian journalist who lives in Turkey. “I read in social networks is constantly news about medicines shortages in Iran,” says Eikder on the phone.” At the beginning of September I shared on my Twitter Account, if someone needs drugs that are in Iran are no longer available, you can contact me via e-Mail.” With the flood of requests Solmaz has not expected. For weeks, she tries to get the needed medications and Iranian tourists, the return home.
Health Minister Hashemi: “We must not alarm the patient”
Iranian leadership in Erklärungsnot
The Iranian leadership has reduced the number of subsidised medicines from 800 to only 30 to 40, in spite of the inflation, which also relates to this sector. The measure is a response to the plummeting revenues from oil Exports. “We have everything under control,” claimed the spokesman of the Ministry of health on 5. November. “We produce 99 percent of our medications.” In the summer, health Minister Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi had asked the Doctors of the country prescribe Iranian drugs. You know that the quality of the local products could be better, but in the current Situation, you should not worry the patient too much.
“I have a hard time with my patients to prescribe these drugs. Especially in the case of cancer drugs, we see strong side effects,” says the oncologist Hamid Dehghan Menshadi from Tehran, “Many of my patients would still be alive if they had taken the right drugs.” Also Nazi wants to take no drugs from Iranian production. “I don’t get the Iranian drugs. I’d take no more.”