FactualFor two years, the reinstatement of international sanctions and the rise of a black market have threatened the right to health of Iranians.
On February 14, 2019, former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made no secret of the real objective of restoring US sanctions against Iran. “The situation is much worse for the Iranian people, and we are convinced that this will lead them to rise up to force the regime to change. “ In November of the same year, Iranians took to the streets to protest against rising fuel prices. Their protest was repressed in the blood, and the regime did not fall. However, the consequences of this cynical American admission, combined with the negligence of the Iranian system and mismanagement, daily violate the Iranians’ right to health.
In this month of June, in the center of Tehran, under a blazing sun, the pharmacy of 13-Aban is never empty. After having withdrawn a ticket, the customers crowd by tens on benches inside; the crowd at the beginning of the afternoon is such that others sit where they can outside, looking for a little shade, waiting for their number to be called by loud- speaker. Some rush through a small side door. “These are the people who do not have the means to pay and who come to ask for advances or assistance”, describes a security guard.
Mohammad, 55, has been a patient since 8 a.m. A veteran of the long Iran-Iraq conflict (1980-1988), he still bears burn marks on his arms and face. Seriously injured in 1987, near Basra, Iraq, body filled with pins after “Eleven operations”, Mohammad is a miracle. But the chemical munitions used by the Iraqi army caused irreversible neurological damage. And have been the source of several cancers.
Crying shortages
“There are hardly any imports of medicines, which poses a problem for those who, like me, have specific needs. Especially for cancers, he explains, showing his prescription. I also need painkillers. I have mental and psychological problems since the war. My treatment is regularly interrupted due to drug shortages. ”
Before this period of restrictions, Saïd, who works in the airline industry, would vslook for drugs “In any pharmacy”. “It was a five-minute affair. There, I have been waiting since this morning. It is the only pharmacy where we have a chance of not leaving empty-handed. But the wait is long, and they limit the quantities. The gaps have been glaring for a year “, he assures.
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