TEHRAN- The cabinet of ministers has agreed to provide the private sector with conditional access to foreign currency for importing medicine and medical equipment in special cases, ISNA quoted Kianoush Jahanpour, spokesman for Food and Drug Administration, as saying on Sunday. 

Meanwhile, FDA Director Gholamreza Asghari said $3.5 billion has been allocated to the health sector for this purpose, Tasnim news agency reported the same day.

Asghari announced that out of the allocated budget, $2 billion was assigned to food and raw pharmaceutical materials, providing by now $600 million worth of country’s needs to raw pharmaceutical materials and $1 billion worth of medicine.

The remaining $1.5 billion was assigned to providing medical equipment, $1.1 of which has been used, so only $800 million is left which will be used gradually for provision of required medicine and equipment, Asghari added.

In November, The Iranian Medical Council called on United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres to lift sanctions hampering medicine importation to Iran. 

According to the letter, Illegal economic sanctions imposed against Iran by the U.S. which is limiting international trade in pharmaceutical industry has seriously reduced Iran’s accessibility to medical services, pharmaceuticals, and medical equipment.

SJ/MQ/MG