Iran's Health Minister Resigns Due to Budget Cuts

Two members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly report that Hassan Qazizadeh Hashemi, the Minister of Health, Treatment and Medical Education, has resigned due to "budget cuts" in the health transformation plan. Hossein Ali Shahriari, head of the Health Commission of the Parliament, confirmed reports regarding the resignation of the health minister following budget reductions in the health sector, and strongly criticized the Planning and Budget Organization for how it determines allocations, urging the government not to play with people's lives in budgeting. He stated that it seems the Planning and Budget Organization has developed a "bias against people's health, as the problems it creates harm the people." The representative from Zahedan added: "There are at least 50 specific diseases for which about 300 billion tomans were allocated two years ago, but in the 98 budget, only about 150 billion tomans have been allocated for them." Shahriari also reported that while the government had previously approved that "the tariffs for kidney, liver, bone marrow, and pancreas transplant patients should be covered by insurance, the insurance companies have been told not to make payments due to a lack of resources." He accused the government of seemingly wanting to bring people to the streets under various pretexts, suggesting that the health sector is one of the most sensitive areas, as evidenced by recent problems arising from resource shortages in hospitals. He did not provide further details on this matter. The Ministry of Health's refusal to import SMA drugs "due to high costs" was also mentioned. Previously, Elias Hazrati, another member of Parliament, tweeted that Qazizadeh Hashemi "resigned in protest against health budget cuts and has not attended cabinet meetings for several days." He also told the "Vaqe'e Melli" website that the government is seeking an "acting" minister for health for this reason. These reports come amid earlier claims that the health minister was absent from cabinet meetings due to "a cold." Ramadan Ali Sobhanifar, a member of the Hope faction and spokesperson for the Moderation and Development Party, stated that "the health minister has been unable to attend his workplace due to a cold." Mohammad Hossein Ghorbani, another member of the Health and Treatment Commission, also confirmed the news of Qazizadeh Hashemi's resignation, stating that the president has not yet "accepted his resignation." The news of the resignation of the highest official in Iran's Ministry of Health comes as Ali Nobakht Haghighi, a member of the Health and Treatment Commission, believes that "from a technical perspective, the budget for the Ministry of Health has been appropriately determined and no shortage is felt in this regard." He stated that "the budget for the Ministry of Health has increased by at least 10 percent compared to last year, and the Ministry of Health does not comply with the law regarding budget consumption, and the issue of the minister's resignation is also a diversion." The health transformation plan, which began on May 5, 2014, aims to improve Iran's health systems with three approaches: financial protection for people, creating equity in access to health services, and improving the quality of services. However, the Parliamentary Research Center, in a report in 2017, criticized the health transformation plan, pointing to the "pressure on the Social Security Organization" and reported that health insurance was not focused on health. According to this report, as a result of the implementation of the health transformation plan, "the treatment costs of the Social Security Organization increased by about 152 percent in 2016 compared to 2013." The Research Center added that the costs of the health transformation plan have "significantly increased the budget deficit of the Health Insurance Organization, so that despite the payment of 8 trillion tomans in bonds last year, this organization still faced a deficit of 4.4 trillion tomans at the end of 2016." The center also reported that based on "per capita availability," "the resources of the organization (Social Security) have effectively led to greater use in affluent areas, while deprived areas have not benefited much from it." Iraj Harirchi, the Deputy Minister of Health, responded by stating that the health transformation plan is "considered by friends and foes alike to be the largest social project of the government and one of the main achievements of the system in recent years."