🗣Your account of living conditions and the economic crisis — Tuesday, 24 Shahrivar:

🔹I had my wife get an ultrasound and a mammogram, along with a blood test, and the doctor wrote the prescriptions. With my Social Security insurance, we went thinking it would all be covered up to a maximum of 3 million tomans. The total cost came to 15 million tomans, and the insurance only covered 3 million. My salary is 20 million tomans with two kids.

🔹I went to more than 10 pharmacies for an injection and Vizipec 350, which is used for angiography. It can’t be found at all. In the end, I went to the Red Crescent pharmacy, I was in the queue for 2 hours until I finally got it and could deliver it to the hospital for my patient.

🔹I’m a contract (scheme) nurse. It’s heavy, risky work that deals with people’s valuable lives and, at times, their grief. We are required to work 28 shifts a month, night shifts, and… but my pay and my colleagues’ pay still doesn’t reach 30 million tomans a month.

🔹The Islamic Republic gives us 8 million tomans in retirement benefits, but this month I’ve spent 5 million tomans on my doctor and my eye medications, which are also counted as subsidized items (free-of-charge), and the insurance doesn’t accept them.

🔹I’m a retiree. A few years ago I could save some money. Now, even though I’m giving up on many groceries and fruit, I can barely keep enough money until the twentieth. From the twentieth of next month there won’t be any money to buy bread either.

🔹My wife and I have no hope of having a child. With this situation, even getting by is barely possible for us.

🔹From Karaj: I bought one pair of pants for school for 1,200,000 tomans.

🔹I registered for National Housing (Maskan-e Melli). They said these homes are for low-income people, but every two months we have to deposit 90 million tomans. When you say you don’t have it, they tell you to opt out. I don’t know what to do.

🔹Truck drivers’ wages have gone from 40 million tomans a year in 1402 to a maximum of 50 million tomans this year, but insurance has risen from 800,000 tomans to 8 million. The living situation of truck drivers is critical.