Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.14
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran will allocate 24 trillion rials, about $970 million for the provision of medicine for low-income people in the next Iranian calendar year which starts on March 21, the Fars News Agency quoted Iran's Food and Drug Organisation Director Rasoul Dinarvand as saying on January 14.
The sum is two trillion rials more compared to the past year, he added.
A considerable budget will be also allocated to the pharmaceutical sector if the second phase of the subsidy reform plan is implemented in the next year, he said.
According to Iranian media, the country imported 16,000 tons of drugs worth $1.468 billion, during the last solar year (ended March 20, 2013).
In July, Acting Chairman of the Majlis Health and Medicine Committee, Abdal Rahman Rostamian said the shortage of medicines cannot be denied.
He added that the storage of the medicines in customs is one of the important factors affecting the drug shortage.
He also said that action must be taken for the immediate release of medicines from customs as the shortage of these drugs is leading to an unprecedented rise in prices.
Shargh Daily reported on July 17 that the medicine import volume increased 300 percent during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad`s two-term presidency (2005-2013).
Iran's drug import has increased by 900 percent since March 21, 1997. Meanwhile drug production in the same period increased 500 percent, the report said.
Currently the semi-state owned organisations share is 70 percent in the pharmaceutical industry, while the drug importing companies are twice more than the drug producing one in number, the report said.
Statistics from Iran's Ministry of Health and Medical Education shows that about 89 pharmaceutical industry companies were active during 2011, while 123 companies were involved in importing drugs this year.