This is a direct quote from Dr. Hassan G. Hashemi ,the new Minister of Health in President
Rohani’s government, in his visit to Kermanshah , a major city in west of Iran
on October 4, 2013. Recently people have faced a sharp increase in the price of
the prescription drugs (up to 46%) he mentioned. Dr. Hashemi reiterated that
the new price control policy for drugs will focus on reducing the price of
prescription drugs for special need patients (e.g. chronic kidney disease, and
cancer).
The Minister of Health stressed
that in the current budget 13,600 billion Toman has been allocated to the Ministry of Health and Medical Education,
however, only 2,600 billion Toman of the
total has been secured so far. To afford their life expenses fifteen thousands
of Iranian physicians are in a job other than health services he said. This is
despite the fact that country is in need for 2000 physicians. Between 200 and
250 thousand nursing staff are required to fulfill the country’s healthcare
system needs.
Dr. Hashemi is optimistic toward
a better future for the healthcare system with the new government’s approach to
solve international relations and removing the sanctions.
End of the post
My comment: With the largest portion of the outpatient healthcare delivery in private sector (at least 90%), it is hard to regulate the price for physician visits and pharmaceuticals. Many hospitals ask patients to provide some of the equipment and medicine they need to provide care. The global budget deficit is a main problem. With many unpredictable factors around it is hard to predict if improvement in medicine supply and service delivery is a myth or a fact.
Source: www.dw.de , 10/04/2013,available from http:/dw/de/p/19tqR
