When 35-year-old Sima walked into a Tehran pharmacy, her eyes raced across the shelves behind the counter, searching for the box that would keep her kidneys from failing. Without it, she was running out of time.
She finally found the medication in the seventh pharmacy she visited, in a wealthy Tehran neighborhood. Her relief faded when the pharmacist told her that the price had once again gone up, leaving her with no choice but to underdose the lifesaving medication.
As US sanctions suffocate Iran’s economy, ordinary people with chronic conditions and serious illnesses are struggling to find the medicine they depend on to survive. With severe shortages and daily price increases, many, like Sima, have been forced to cut doses, postpone doctor visits or self-medicate.
“They’ve stopped using cancer medication for people who they say are terminal or far along,” said Sima, who did not give CNN her real name so she could speak freely. “They only use it for those who are in the very early stages.”
A mother in Tehran who lost her only daughter has been forced to change her antidepressant medication to a less effective locally produced version. Seasonal flu vaccinations have been called off this year after the government failed to procure them from Europe. Cancer patients are selling their televisions and refrigerators to buy overpriced medication.
A 55-year-old cancer patient, who asked to remain anonymous, said she, too, is running out of options.
“I’ve asked if people who come visit or come back from abroad can bring my medicine back, especially the things we can’t find here or get access, too,” the patient, who lives in Tehran, told CNN. “Between the illness and uncertainty of the war I have a hard time knowing what to do.”
Pharmacies in Iran contacted by CNN confirmed shortages and price increases across several categories, including heart medication, which is now offered as a local generic rather than the prescribed brand, cholesterol-lowering pills, which are available but far more expensive, and migraine drugs, which have completely vanished from shop shelves.
Iran media reports, however, suggest the shortages are far more wide-reaching, affecting everything from antidepressants to insulin and pregnancy medications. Other drugs are completely unobtainable, leaving Iran’s sick facing astronomically higher prices or a less effective generic version.
The shortages have affected almost 800 medications, the head of the Iranian Pharmacists Association Shahram Kalantari told a press conference last month, with pharmacies unable to procure alternatives due to the rising costs.
“Everyone says we’re brave,” the cancer patient added in a telephone call. “But I don’t know if being brave means anything when you’re dying.”
by CNN – Trump’s sanctions, inflation and a collapsing economy leaves Iran’s sick exposed
