Jalal Hashemi, chairman of the board of directors of the Homa airline retirees’ association, said that in the past two to three weeks, two retired employees of this company abandoned their treatment and died because they were unable to pay hospital and medical expenses.

Referring to the living and medical conditions of the retired employees of Homa airline, Hashemi said: “The average income received by Homa airline retirees is about 27 million tomans.”

He added that out of a total of about 13,000 retirees and pensioners of this airline, nearly 5,600 are minimum-income recipients and receive a little more than 18 million tomans per month.

Hashemi said the cost of treatment for a simple cold is between 3 and 5 million tomans, and the medical insurance services for Homa airline retirees have also been cut off due to a lack of financial resources.

He added: “A tragedy has reached the point where, only in the past two to three weeks, two of our retired colleagues, due to financial inability to pay hospital expenses, were forced to leave treatment and unfortunately lost their lives.”