Iranians say US sanctions blocking access to needed medicine

Taha Shakouri keeps finding remote corners to play in at a Tehran children's charity hospital, unaware that his doctors are running out of chemo medicine needed to treat the eight-year-old boy's liver cancer.

With Iran's economy in free fall after the U.S. pullout from the nuclear deal and escalated sanctions on Tehran, prices of imported medicines have soared as the national currency tumbled about 70 per cent against the dollar.

Even medicines manufactured in Iran are tougher to come by for ordinary Iranians, their cost out of reach for many in a country where the average monthly salary is equivalent to about USD 450.

Iran's health system can't keep up and many are blaming President Donald Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign for the staggering prices and shortages.

The sanctions have hurt ordinary Iranians, sending prices for everything from staples and consumer goods to housing skyward, while raising the specter of war with the U.S.

Taha's mother, Laya Taghizadeh, says the hospital provides her son's medication for free a single treatment would otherwise cost USD 1,380 at a private hospital. She adds the family is deeply grateful to the doctors and the hospital staff.

"We couldn't make it without their support," says the 30-year-old woman. "My husband is a simple grocery store worker and this is a very costly disease."
"Indeed, we are losing hope," said Ahmadian. "Medicines should be purchasable, funding should be available and lines of credit should be clearly defined in the banking system."
He pays three times more for the drug on the street than he did in May 2018. "I don't know on whom Trump imposed sanctions except that he is punishing terminally ill people here."