Tehran: A 70-year-old woman in Iran, battling advanced breast cancer, is unable to proceed with her scheduled chemotherapy due to skyrocketing medical costs. Her treatment, planned for every two weeks, requires six sessions, each costing approximately 100 million Iranian tomans (around $530 or £450). This price is nearly six times the monthly minimum wage of 16.6 million tomans for workers under Iran's labor law.
According to Deutsche Welle, the woman's children have requested a delay in her treatment while they seek financial assistance, highlighting a growing crisis in Iran's health care system. Rising prices, supply shortages, and disruptions in foreign currency transfers have severely limited access to medical care. Iranian physicians Hamid Hemmatpour and Hassan Nayeb Hashem, both based in Austria, have reported increasing difficulties for patients seeking vital treatments.
A recent announcement from an Iranian pharmaceutical company revealed sharp price hikes for 82 products, with average prices jumping from 180,000 to 390,000 tomans-a 120% increase. Specific medicines like Donepezil and Clarithromycin have seen even higher price surges, exacerbating the financial strain on patients.
Insulin users, in particular, face significant challenges. The cost of a monthly prescription for NovoRapid insulin pens has soared from 280,000 to 1.1 million tomans, even after insurance reimbursement. Hemmatpour warns that delays in treatment can lead to severe health consequences, including premature death, due to the lack of substitute medications for specific diseases.
Cancer patients are especially at risk, as treatment delays can compromise the effectiveness of their therapy. The cancer drug Keytruda (pembrolizumab), for instance, is priced at 70 million tomans for an Iranian-produced version, while imported alternatives cost significantly more. This has led to an increased demand for medicines through unofficial channels, raising concerns about their safety and efficacy.
Iran's pharmaceutical industry struggles with a depreciating currency, rising production costs, and delayed insurance payments, compounded by US sanctions that complicate international transactions. Despite an increase in foreign currency allocation for medical supplies, logistical challenges persist, contributing to widespread shortages.
Salman Eshaghi, spokesman for the Health and Treatment Committee of Iran's parliament, reports that 43 medicines are in "critical shortage," with nearly 1,000 facing some degree of scarcity. Patients now bear over 70% of health care costs, a drastic increase from the previous expectation of 30%.
For the elderly woman with breast cancer, these systemic issues offer little solace. Her doctor and family wish to continue her treatment, but without financial means, her chemotherapy remains indefinitely postponed as her children search for a solution.