Laboratory Costs Increase by 800%; Escaping Bankruptcy with Fake Test Results

The crisis stemming from rising prices and its associated problems is more evident than ever in the health sector, as the head of the Iranian Internal Specialists Association has reported that laboratories are unable to procure equipment due to high costs. He stated that laboratories are resorting to issuing test result papers without conducting tests and using outdated tools and kits with a very high error rate to escape bankruptcy. The website 'Tejarat News' quoted the head of the National Laboratory Sciences Specialists Association, who mentioned that due to the rising dollar price, obtaining laboratory equipment and parts has become extremely difficult, and if this trend continues, laboratory costs could increase by up to 800 times. Iraj Khosrounia, the head of the Internal Specialists Association, told Tejarat News that the increase in the dollar price has exacerbated issues in the health and treatment sector. Khosrounia also discussed illegal ways of generating income in laboratories, stating that 'fake results without conducting tests' or 'using expired kits' ultimately endanger patients the most. According to this doctor, the government's failure to provide currency and the rising prices of medicines and treatments have led patients to exit the treatment cycle. According to this report, health and treatment issues have always been one of the people's problems in Iran, but with the government's decision to eliminate the semi-official currency for medicines in the year 1402 (2023), existing problems in the health sector have significantly worsened, and shortages of medicine and infant formula have become part of the reality of this sector. The issues in the treatment sector and currency allocation were among the main topics discussed in the Iranian Parliament yesterday, where Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf confirmed the lack of currency allocation and the Central Bank's delays in this regard. Haji Deligani, a representative from Shahinshahr in Parliament, also noted that meetings held to resolve the issue have not yet solved the problems of high prices and medicine shortages. According to this representative, it was supposed that 70% of medicine costs would be covered by insurance and 30% by the patient, but this has not happened, and the payments from insurance and patients are nearly equal. The prevailing situation in the health sector has also had other repercussions in the Iranian economy, including the exit of investors and active companies from the country. Mohammad Ali Mohseni Bandpay, a member of the Health and Treatment Commission of Parliament, announced in June 2023 that pharmaceutical companies are migrating to Turkey.