Namaki made the remarks in an interview with Iran Press on the sidelines of the weekly cabinet session.

“They have put pressure on all our financial transactions regarding medicinal drugs and are exerting pressure on all pharmaceutical companies to stop the sale of medicines to us,” he said.

Officials in Washington repeatedly claimed they would not stop the sale of medicines and food to Iran, but they have lied, and the flow of vital medicines has been stopped, the minister explained.

“We buy medicines in various unofficial ways and through brokers, of course, the medicines we buy are original, but with very limited and expensive resources, we never impose this expense on our people.”

Namaki stated, “We called on the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom, to intervene so that the voices of our oppressed people are heard and America’s bullying against Iranians is exposed.”

The minister asserted that the health of the people should not be the subject of politics.

“We hope that the pressure is lifted on the Iranian people, a nation that has fulfilled all its obligations,” he added.

President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, in May 2018 and restored the previous sanctions against Iran and ordered new ones. Trump has described his government’s sanctions against Iran as “economic war”.

Tehran says sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) will prevent it from providing food and medicine to ordinary Iranian people.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said last month that the United States’ sanctions and economic war on Iran have targeted the ordinary people’s health and livelihood.

“There was a time when such warfare was used to simply limit the activities of some countries. However, new warfare of the United States and what Trump has called the ‘economic war’ have targeted the ordinary people’s livelihood and health,” the chief diplomat lamented.

Also on Monday, Zarif urged the European parties to the JCPOA to carry out their “minimal human duty” of selling pharmaceuticals to Iran.

“Instead of arrogant threats or hollow paper promises, E3/EU—and future INSTEX shareholder Sweden—should start with something very simple; a minimal human duty: Ask @molnlyckehc to SELL products enabling Iranian kids with EB to cover their wounds,” he tweeted.

“#EconomicTerrorism kills,” he added.

In another tweet, Zarif mentioned U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, saying, “@SecPompeo once again admits that US #EconomicTerrorism on Iran is designed to starve, and in the case of medical supplies, kill our innocent citizens.”

The post Pharmaceutical companies under US pressure; Health minister appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Alireza Zali told that the World Health Organization confirmed not only the accuracy and efficiency of health patterns observed in Iran but also the pivotal role played by the country in the field of health, treatment and medical sciences. Iran News covers the story told by Iran Daily.

He said presently Islamic countries are faced with a large number of common medical challenges including ecological variations, environmental problems, demographic transitions, and an increase in risk-prone health behaviors among people.

“An increase in life expectancy as well as the complexities created by modern life in the field of health have caused the health-related issues to become a common concern among the Islamic countries”, he said.

Referring to the Fourth International Health Congress of Islamic Countries held in Tehran from Oct.9-11, he said Iran has managed to host the health tourism conference of Islamic countries because the country has achieved a high position in the field of medical sciences during the past years.

He noted that Health Tourism Development Center of Islamic countries was established in Iran five years ago.

Zali, who also acts as the advisor to Parliament’s Health and Treatment Commission, said about 800,000 medical tourists arrived in Iran in the year to March 2019.

He noted that there is no exact figure available in this regard because the information of some foreign visitors in Iran from neighboring countries to receive medical services has not been collected.

“Even if no change were to be made in the health, treatment and medical sector of the country, we are capable of hosting 1.5 million health tourists annually,” he said, adding that making any improvement in the infrastructure of Iran’s medical sector would help increase the figure to 2.5 million.

Pointing to the implementation of economic resistance policies in the country, he said given that efforts are underway by officials to manage an economy without oil in Iran, health tourism is one of the best opportunities which can be used to earn revenues for the country.

Zali said the amount of hard currency brought to the country by a medical tourist is three-to fivefold higher than that by an ordinary tourist.

The official said the ground has been prepared in Iran to develop rehabilitation tourism, ecotourism, and geotourism sectors, pointing out that efforts should be made to provide the condition for foreign patients to use such facilities for  convalescence.

He said a large number of natural attractions including warm and mineral water springs are in Iran which can be used for treating various diseases.

“They are also attractive for healthy people willing to improve their well-being,” he concluded.

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