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or even fell apart as a result of severe financial crises caused by financial
sanctions. During that period, Alborz and Darou Pakhsh companies, which
were among the biggest companies distributing medicine across Iran, were put
on the sanctions list. There was another big company calledAkbariyeh, which
totally fell apart as a result of financial problems. Severity of conditions in the
Iranian medicine market prompted the Health Ministry to give permit to many
private companies to import medicines from all countries in the world. This
new generation of medicine, which was mostly imported by upstart private
companies, was usually of low quality and was imported into the country by
Sanctions on supply of medical software
I referred to an ophthalmology clinic to undergo corneal collagen cross-linking
operation. After anesthetic was applied and while I had been prepared for
laser surgery and was wearing operation gown, my doctor found out that
the laser device was broken down and asked me to refer two weeks later
for laser surgery. When I asked why I had to wait so long, I was told that the
operating system of their computer had become problematic and since Iran
was under sanctions by the United States, the operating system could not
be directly obtained by Iran.
The country had to buy the
necessary software for the laser
device from the United States
through a broker in Switzerland
and this could take up to two
weeks. Therefore, I returned
home with anesthetized eyes,
which could not practically see
anything!