Despite claims by Islamic Republic officials regarding pharmaceutical self-sufficiency, following the US and Israeli attacks on Iran, citizens, doctors, and healthcare experts are reporting severe shortages of vital medicines, a decline in drug quality, and increased financial pressure on patients. Several specialist physicians inside Iran who spoke with IranWire view the roots of this crisis not in the recent war, but in flawed pharmaceutical policies, financial corruption, and sanctions-related financial constraints that have plagued patients for decades, which the war has further exacerbated.
Reyhaneh, a specialist physician who has worked at a hospital in Isfahan for years, spoke to IranWire about the medicine shortages: "Years ago, pharmaceutical companies decided to import raw pharmaceutical ingredients and package the medicines inside Iran, given the low cost of Iranian labor. Before that, raw ingredients were imported from European countries such as Spain and especially Italy, and they possessed acceptable quality. However, with the intensification of sanctions and the growing difficulty of transferring foreign currency, the entry of medicines and the import of raw materials faced obstacles."
