🔻Head of the Food and Drug Organization: Reducing the preferential currency allocation has led to higher medicine prices

The head of the Food and Drug Organization says that the jump in prices is due to the reduction of the preferential currency allocation for importing medical supplies.

Mehdi Pirsaalehi said: “Last year, about 3.5 billion dollars in preferential currency was allocated to the pharmaceutical sector and equipment, which has been reduced to 3 billion dollars in the government and parliamentary approved budget for this year.”

“Therefore, 500 million dollars of the preferential currency for this sector has been reduced at the beginning of the year.”

With this reduction in the share, some of these medicines must be supplied with non-preferential currency.

Mr. Pirsaalehi also said: “Last year we received about 1.5 billion dollars in non-preferential currency at a rate of about 60 to 70 thousand tomans, but this rate has now risen to about 170 thousand tomans.”

Mohammadreza Zaforqandi, the Minister of Health, had recently, after confirming the rise in medicine prices, said that transportation problems were among the reasons for this increase.

He had said: “The raw materials that were previously imported by ship are now inevitably being transported by plane, and this has increased costs.”

According to statements by official sources in Iran during the war, 16 pharmaceutical factories were targeted by attacks.

Iran’s naval blockade by the United States has made the import of goods to Iran, including medicines, harder and slower.